Experts: Vietnam needs to develop more rental housing projects hinh anh 1Dong Mo-Dai Kim social housing project in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, tackles accommodation for 2,500 people. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – More attention should be paid to developing affordable house- for-rent projects in an effort to resolve the severe shortage of housing for low-income earners, young couples, the elderly and workers in urban areas, experts have said.

According to the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Agency under the Ministry of Construction, although the nation’s average floor area of housing per person reaches to 23.4 square metres, there is still a thirst for affordable houses for rent.

Pham Thi Thu Ha, from the agency’s urban housing development division, said that the Law on Housing 2014 encourages individuals and organisations to build houses for rent but they have focused on constructing houses for sale to recover their capital as soon as possible.

Many social house-for-rent projects have been developed by the State, but they are not enough to meeting the increasing demands, particularly in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, she said.

Statistics from the population and housing census showed that by 2015, houses for rent in the country only accounted for 14 percent of the total owned properties. Meanwhile, local reports indicated that workers at industrial parks are renting houses built by individuals.

Experts have said that in developed countries, housing for rent is an inseparable part of the socio-economic development plans. Rented homes made up of 84 percent in Singapore and 40 percent in the Republic of Korea and Japan.

However, the house-for-rent market has been left open in Vietnam although there is a great demand for rental houses.

Developing social rental housing projects is expected to changing Vietnamese habit of owning a house, experts said.-VNA
VNA