Workers have difficulty accessing social housing priced at 17 - 26 million VND/m2

Income cannot keep up with house prices

Ms. Phuong Mai - a worker working at a company in Thang Long Industrial Park (Hanoi) - shared: "My husband and I have worked for nearly 5 years, with a total monthly income of about 15 million VND. After deducting food expenses, living expenses... I was lucky enough to save 2 - 3 million VND/month. But if a social housing apartment is about 50 m2, with an average price of about 20 million VND/m2, it will need at least 1 billion VND. No matter how much effort my wife and I try, we don't know when we will be able to buy it."

Ms. Mai added: "A family of workers, the couple work together with a total income of about 15 - 18 million VND/month. After deducting rent (2 - 3 million VND), food expenses, electricity and water, children's school expenses... there is almost no leftovers to accumulate. If there is, they can only save about 1 - 2 million VND/month, which means saving 15 - 20 million VND per year. This amount is too small compared to the requirement of about 1 billion VND to be eligible to buy social housing".

Similar to Ms. Mai, Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong (from Nghe An) shared: Social housing projects in Hanoi currently have common prices from 17 - 20 million VND/m2, even up to 25 - 26 million VND/m2 in some places. With a minimum apartment area of 45 - 60 m2, the value of each apartment ranges from 800 million VND to 1.5 billion VND.

For a worker with an income of 8 million VND/month, Suppose he does not spend anything, it will take more than 8 years to accumulate all 800 million VND, not including interest rates, inflation and living expenses. In reality, workers are forced to cover daily expenses, so buying a social housing apartment is almost impossible".

Mr. Cuong said that because social housing prices are high beyond their ability to pay, it is very difficult for low-income workers to access.

Tightening selling prices to help workers access social housing

Dr. Tran Xuan Luong - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Institute for Real Estate Market Research - commented: "Social housing is a type of housing with State support, for vulnerable groups, including low-income workers. If the social housing market allows floating prices according to the free market mechanism, it will lead to an imbalance between supply and demand. When prices exceed the affordability of low-income people, the nature of social housing will be lost".

Mr. Luong said that the National Assembly has just issued Resolution No. 201/2025 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for social housing development. The Resolution allows the implementation of a number of special procedures such as assigning investors and approving investment policies at the same time without organizing bidding, in order to shorten the project implementation time.

Along with that, the Government has also issued specific guiding documents, strong decentralization - delegation of authority to localities in implementing investment procedures for social housing construction. These reforms not only help remove "bottlenecks" in administration but also create conditions for projects to be implemented quickly and on schedule.

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