The domestic real estate market will continue to suffer difficulties in
the short term and the market needs more policies to help it make a
profit in the long term, said experts.
"The segment of
luxury apartments will continue to endure many difficulties until the
end of this year and even throughout next year because of oversupply,"
Nguyen Thanh Nam, director of the Ocean Group's Info Real Estate Trading
Floor, said at an online dialogue between experts and readers held by
Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (VnEconomy) on August 9.
"In
fact, given what people's incomes realistically are, most cannot buy a
commercial apartment or a large, high-quality house," said Vu Xuan
Thien, head of Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department.
Therefore,
the Government issued preferential policies to create favourable
conditions for people to buy apartments and houses that are suitable to
their income, Thien said.
Phan Thanh Mai, general secretary
of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, said the property market
succumbed to weakness due to impacts from the global and regional
economic downturn and uncontrollable fluctuations in supply and demand.
Much depends on banking loans, weak risk management and the Government's
credit tightening policies.
Development of the property
market will depend on many factors, including state policies, Mai said.
The Government, the Construction Ministry and the State Bank of Vietnam
had policies to support the market.
However, so far, those
policies have not had much of an effect on the property market. They
need more time to see an effect, Mai said.
To solve
difficulties in capital for the property market, the Government should
have mid- and long-term financial tools for property investment,
including saving funds that provide loans for buying houses or
apartments and property investment funds that mobilise capital for the
property market via the securities market.
Now, the price
of apartments has fallen by 50 percent in Ho Chi Minh City and 40
percent in Hanoi, Mai said. Investors have been forced to lower prices
to cut losses and pay loans and accumulated interest.
Meanwhile,
some enterprises with the financial ability to do so sought investment
opportunities for the new market period after the downturn period.-VNA