Despite more people being allowed to buy low income kind of housing, they continue to complain about various difficulties in purchasing these homes.
People still face difficulties in buying low-income houses
Currently, about 150,000 people in HCM City are in need of low-income houses, while the supply is just around 3,000 in total.
The majority of people who qualify for this type of housing are unable to pay 20% of the total value of their house first and have not yet been offered long-term loans with more preferential interest rates.
Speaking at a recent meeting on low-income homes held in HCM City, Nguyen Tran Phuong, Vice Chairwoman of the HCM City Labour Federation, said, "Buyers are offered preferential policies to pay the debts over ten years, but the price is still quite high compared to the income of labourers in HCM City. If a household has to spend VND5-6 million (USD238-285.7) per month to pay for their homes per month out of an income of VND9 million, this will affect their life."
Tien Phong Newspaper cited Nguyen Huu Hung, Chairman of the HCM City Department of Education and Training’s Trade Union, as saying that the city now has more than 20,000 teachers who want to buy low-income houses with incomes of around VND4 million per month.
Enterprises are not showing much interest in low-income housing projects, particularly in the current real estate market although they have been offered various preferences to invest, such as tax exemptions, reductions on leasing and buying land and low-interest loans to carry out these projects.
However, according to Nguyen Van Danh, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Construction, low-income housing projects are still unattractive to investors because they find it difficult to gain access to the government’s preferential loans. Also, the time frame for return on investments with such projects remains long.
This year, HCM City will put into operation 11 projects totaling 3,000 low-income homes. By the end of 2015, some 17,500 houses will be completed.
