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According to the Ministry of Justice, preferential treatment for affordable housing was not included in the Land Law or Housing Law yet so it would take a long time for any effective result.
A market survey in the first half of 2021 conducted by HCM City Department of Construction showed that 50% of the existing housing belongs to the high-end segment, 41% belonged to the mid-end segment; and affordable apartments accounted for 0%. Apartments that cost under VND25m per square metre in Hanoi were also rare.
In 2020, high-end apartments accounted for 69% of the market, mid-end apartments accounted for 27% and affordable apartments accounted for only 3.6%.
Le Hoang Chau, chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association, agreed and said that the supply for high-end apartments and resort real estate were excessive and affordable apartments were lacking.
"This makes the real estate market unstable," he said. "It's a rash statement to say that 25-square-metre apartments will create high-rise slums. I think it's reasonable when the Ministry of Construction proposed that the number of apartments under 45-square-metre must not exceed 25% of the total number of apartments in a building."
He went on to say that whether the building will turn into a slum or not depend on many factors like the designs of the apartments, the building management board and the residents' awareness. Small apartments will fulfil the demands for housing for low-income people.
Nguyen Duy Thanh, the representative of Global Home, said demand for small apartments are high, however, it would put huge pressure on city infrastructure. HCM City has a population of 13 million and many places are densely populated. The authorities should only develop small apartments in moderately populated areas.
Thanh went on to say that the government should have a mechanism to prevent cases when investors deliberately sell small apartments at high prices which would ruin the purpose of affordable housing.
"They could sell a 60-square-metre apartment for VND35m per square metre and a 25-square-metre apartment for VND40m per square metre and gain huge profits," he said.
