Cheap capital for social housing is still "stuck"

ANTD.VN - Both credit sources for social housing, the 120,000 billion VND package and the capital source to support individual customers borrowing capital through the Social Policy Bank under Decree No. 100, are facing many difficulties.

Removing legal obstacles

To promote the development of social housing, the Ministry of Construction has submitted to the Prime Minister Decision No. 338/QD-TTg dated April 3, 2023 approving the Project "Investing in the construction of at least 1 million social housing apartments for low-income people and industrial park workers in the period 2021-2030".

According to the report of the Ministry of Construction, from 2021 to present, 622 social housing projects have been implemented nationwide with a scale of 564,177 units. Of which: 80 projects with a scale of 40,879 units have been completed; 130 projects with a scale of 113,162 units have started construction; 412 projects with a scale of 410,136 units have been approved for investment policy.

Thus, the number of apartments that have been started and completed to date has only reached about 35.6% of the Project's target set for 2025, which is 428,000 apartments.

Along with that, the whole country has planned land funds for building social housing with a scale of about 9,757 hectares. Some localities are interested in planning land funds for developing social housing such as: Dong Nai 1,064 hectares, Quang Ninh 666 hectares, Ho Chi Minh City 608 hectares, Hai Phong 644 hectares, Hanoi 412 hectares.

Social housing supply is still scarce

According to the Ministry of Construction, in order to promote the development of social housing, in the coming time, ministries, branches and localities need to continue researching administrative procedure reform and removing difficulties and obstacles.

Localities must clearly define responsibilities and goals to lead and direct resolutely, promptly develop an Implementation Plan to specify the implementation of construction according to the assigned tasks in the Project.

Along with that, review and supplement planning, ensure sufficient land fund for social housing development; Plan and arrange social housing projects, housing for independent workers in suitable, convenient locations, with appropriate scale, full technical infrastructure, social infrastructure.

Localities need to review and strictly implement regulations on reserving 20% ​​of residential land fund invested in technical infrastructure in commercial housing projects and urban areas to direct project investors to urgently invest in building social housing according to regulations.

There are specific mechanisms and solutions to shorten administrative procedures for project establishment, approval, land allocation, land lease, site clearance, construction investment procedures, etc. to support and encourage businesses to invest in construction projects, create supply for the market and take advantage of preferential capital sources for social housing development.

Credit is still… blocked

Regarding capital for social housing development, according to the Ministry of Construction, it is still facing difficulties.

Of which, the credit package of 120,000 billion VND (now increased to 140,000 billion VND with the participation of 4 joint stock commercial banks: MB, Techcombank, VPBank, TPBank) is still slow to implement. Up to now, only 34/63 provincial People's Committees have issued documents, announcing 83 projects eligible for preferential loans on the Electronic Information Portal.

Of which, for investors, only 15 projects have signed credit contracts for this package with a total credit commitment of VND4,200 billion, outstanding debt of VND1,624 billion. The remaining 68 projects have not signed credit contracts, of which 57 projects have investors who do not need to borrow capital and 6 projects are being appraised by commercial banks, 5 projects do not meet loan conditions.

For home buyers, only 151 home buyers have received loans from the 120,000 billion VND Program with an amount of about 80 billion VND.

The disbursement of the preferential credit support package of 120,000 billion VND is still slow, according to the Ministry of Construction, because the number of participating banks is limited and the supply of social housing is not large.

Along with that, the interest rate and the interest period have not really attracted borrowers (the interest rate applied in the first half of 2024 is 8%/year for investors and 7.5% for home buyers; the preferential period is 3 years for investors, 5 years for individual customers). Currently, the State Bank of Vietnam is continuing to propose reducing interest rates and extending the preferential loan period.

In addition, some social housing project investors do not meet the credit conditions to borrow such as: not ensuring credit balance conditions; not having other assets to secure credit (social housing projects are exempted from land use fees so are not eligible for mortgage); have borrowed from other credit institutions...

Meanwhile, regarding the capital source to support individual customers borrowing capital through the Social Policy Bank according to Decree No. 100/2015/ND-CP, the capital source according to the Public Investment Plan for the period 2021-2025 allocated to the Social Housing Program through the Social Policy Bank is 1,000 billion VND, which was implemented by the end of 2021.

In the 2022-2023 period, the capital source for the Social Policy Bank to provide social housing loans will be supplemented according to Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly and Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP of the Government (disbursement results reached VND 10,281 billion), implemented until the end of 2023.

However, for the 2024-2025 period, the Policy Bank has not yet been allocated state budget capital to implement this program.

Source: https://www.anninhthudo.vn/von-re-cho-nha-o-xa-hoi-van-tac-post593217.antd