Unsold properties value at US$1.15 billion

The amount dropped by nearly VND4.3 trillion over the end of 2016, according to the Ministry of Construction.
The highest inventories were recorded in residential land. They were estimated at more than 3.1 million square meters and valued at VND12.4 trillion.
This was followed by town houses, with 3,129 units worth over VND7 trillion. Unsold apartments stood at 2,924 units, equivalent to some VND4.2 trillion, while commercial land was at 604,151 square meters, valued at nearly VND2.4 trillion.
Unsold properties in Ho Chi Minh City were at VND4.78 trillion, while Ha Noi saw a total inventory value of VND5.3 trillion.

Real estate inventories drop by nearly VND4.3 trillion against the end of 2016.

The ministry said that the decrease in property inventories had slowed down significantly in recent months because most projects in the stockpiles were located far from downtown areas with underdeveloped infrastructure. Thus, it was difficult to promote the sales of these projects.
There was a redundancy in the high-end housing segment, while there was a severe shortage in affordable homes, reflecting an imbalance in the supply and demand of the real estate market, the ministry said.
The social housing development still failed to meet the market demand due to a lack of incentives, which discouraged housing developers. In addition, there were a few developers interested in building houses for rent.
The Ministry of Construction forecast that housing prices will remain stable in the short term and that the tourism property market will experience robust development in the time to come.
The ministry will continue restructuring the real estate market in line with the National Housing Development Strategy, especially boosting social housing developments.
It will propose relevant agencies to arrange capital for the Bank of Social Policies and credit institutions to provide preferential loans to social housing.
Another problem of Vietnam’s real estate market was the lack of an adequate and consistent market information system, according to the ministry. This caused difficulties in State management as well as for citizens in participating in the market.
There are signs of speculation and information distortions through the intermediary stage, according to the ministry.
To cope with this, the ministry would continue to make public the names of projects, which were used as mortgage at banks, stagnant projects with legal problems and developers with violations or weak capacity.
In addition, a close watch would be placed on the market development to raise timely measures, prevent speculation and the formation of a market bubble.