Home buyers will get access to low interest loans under a VND50trn (USD2.38 billion) plan proposed by the State Bank of Vietnam to boost the local property market, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam said.
The State Bank of Vietnam proposes VND50trn injection for home loans
Nam said the proposal was to provide loans to home buyers at an annual interest rate of seven percent for the first ten years.
Le Huu Nghia, Director of Le Thanh Real Estate Company, said the measure would provide new momentum for the real estate market, making available loans at a considerable discount to the prevailing annual 10-12 percent rate.
But economist Nguyen Tri Hieu said that even at seven percent for ten years, Vietnamese would still find it hard to buy a home because of low incomes. In the US, were incomes are relatively much higher, home loan rates were just four percent, over 20-30 years.
Nam said that, in 2014, the Vietnamese real estate market saw a sharp increase in transactions. By the end of 2013, outstanding loans for the real estate market stood at VND180trn (USD8.57 billion), and was now at about VND300trn, compared with VND280trn in 2008-09.