Ministry of Construction proposes tightening the resale of social housing after 5 years

On the afternoon of October 28, explaining at the plenary session on the draft Law on Housing (amended), Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh clarified many issues related to housing development management, social housing prices, house transfer after a 5-year term and renovation of old apartment buildings.

There are projects built exceeding floors, not being granted red books

Referring to the management of housing projects, Minister Tran Hong Minh admitted that the inspection and control of some projects in previous years was not strict.

There are projects that were previously not strictly controlled, for example, Mr. Le Thanh Than's projects in provinces and cities, construction exceeded floors, were not granted red books, and could not be handed over," the Minister said.

According to Mr. Minh, recently, Hanoi has issued handling measures according to the resolutions of the National Assembly and the guidance of the Ministry of Construction.

From this reality, the Minister said that the adjustment of boundaries and planning after organizing the two-level local government model needs to be linked to determining the needs and number of social housing and rental housing in each locality. These indicators must be included in the development plan, as a basis for project implementation and control of the construction investment process.

Avoid policy profiteering

Regarding the price of social housing, Minister Tran Hong Minh said that the selling price must be appraised by the Department of Construction before opening for sale. Although investors enjoy incentives on taxes, site clearance, land use fees and credit, the cost still depends on construction costs, technical infrastructure, bank loan interest rates and the level of utility investment.

According to the Minister, projects with 2 to 3 basements for parking will have higher costs than projects with only one basement or no basement. Prices of materials and building materials are also different between localities. Therefore, social housing prices in the past time ranged from about 15 to 29 million VND/m2, depending on the area and characteristics of each project.

Regarding the regulation allowing buyers to transfer social housing after 5 years, a delegate proposed only allowing resale to investors to continue arranging for eligible people, and at the same time not to let the transfer price exceed the initial purchase price.

The Minister emphasized that social housing is a social security policy to support people in difficult circumstances to stabilize their housing. Therefore, in case buyers no longer need to use it and want to transfer it, they need to have strict binding conditions to avoid policy profiteering.

Regarding rental housing, the Minister said that the rental price must not exceed the framework issued by the provincial-level People's Committee and must be appraised by functional agencies. The regulation applies to both state and private investors when participating in projects to enjoy policy incentives.

Regarding the Housing Development Fund, the Minister informed that the fund is formed from three main sources: state budget; revenue from arranging and auctioning public assets; contribution equivalent to the land fund value of 20% for social housing development in commercial housing projects.

The fund's operation must comply with the State Budget Law and related regulations. The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee is responsible for organizing annual fund audits.

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