Many banks have reduced outstanding loans for real estate business in the first 6 months. (Photo cafef.vn)Accordingto audited half-yearly financial statements, many banks have reducedoutstanding loans for real estate business in the first six months.
LienVietPostBank'sfinancial statements show that outstanding loans for real estate business fellby 52 percent to 1.67 trillion VND (72.6 million USD), leavingthe proportion of real estate loans at the bank at only 0.87 percent.
AtVPBank, outstanding loans for real estate activities decreased by 12 percent to32.4 trillion VND. Meanwhile, the cash flow into personal loans to buyhouses, and receive land use rights was still strong, with outstandingloans increasing by 26 percent to more than 45.8 trillion VND.
Outstandingloans for real estate business at ABBank decreased by 13 percent to 2.69 trillionVND, while cash flow was strong and grew in other areas.
At MBBank,loan balance for real estate business decreased slightly by 75 billion VND to 9.32 trillionVND, while the bank promoted credit flows into other areas such ashousehold employment; wholesale and retail loans; automobilesand motorbikes; as well as manufacturing and processing.
MB'stotal credit balance increased by 10.9 percent in the first half of the yearand reached more than 314.9 trillion VND. Currently, lending to realestate business only accounts for a very small proportion at MB of 3.31 percent.
Onthe contrary, there was some growth in loans for the real estate industry.The outstanding loans for real estate business and consulting activitiesincreased by 3.7 percent to 4.91 trillion VND at ACB, by 11 percentto more than 101 trillion VND at Techcombank, and by 10.7 percent to 8.98 trillionVND at TPBank.
Aftera survey of credit trends of credit institutions by the Department ofForecasting and Statistics, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)and credit institutions said they would slightly relax their overallcredit standards for most customer groups in the last six months of2021.
However,banks are still expected to tighten loans for securities, realestate, finance, banking and insurance and tourism.
Duringthe pandemic, though there has been reduction in lending interest rates tosupport businesses and people, and some banks haveemphasised that support has not been applied for real estatebusiness but by businesses providing accommodation services, restaurants,and manufacturing businesses that were essential for the economy.
Vietcombank recentlysaid that it would continue to reduce interest rates up to 0.5 percent per yearfor all outstanding loans of customers in HCM City andBình Dương province and reduce interest rates to 0 .3 percent per yearfor the entire loan balance of customers in other southern provinces and citiesthat apply social distancing according to Directive 16.
However,the bank noted, the above interest rate reduction does not apply tosecurities loans, real estate business loans and mortgage loans ofvaluable papers.
Meanwhile,many real estate businesses said they faced many difficultiesin the pandemic and suggested that the banks should reduce thesupport interest rate for them as well.
Nguyen ThiThanh Huong, General Director of Dai Phuc Land Company,told local media: “Real estate company are facing many difficulties, especiallycash flow when their revenue stagnated in the pandemic but they stillhave to pay the bank interest and interest from borrowing from othersources without any support.”
Huongasked the banks to consider reducing interest rates, and freezing debtsfor real estate investors to have more resources to develop projectsto launch in the fourth quarter of the year.
Previously,the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) sent a writtenrequest to the SBV and commercial banks, asking them to supportbusinesses including reducing loan interest rates by about 2 percent peryear for real estate businesses, investors and home loan customers.
Atthe same time, HoREA suggested that commercial banks consider and createconditions for businesses, including real estate businesses, to access newloans for project implementation.
Responding tothe real estate businesses, many experts said that the real estate lendinginterest rate had been very low for many years, and if itcontinued to decrease, the risk for the market was very high.
Therecent land boom has left banks afraid to pour money into theindustry while the SBV keeps saying that it will continue to strictly controlcredit flowing into risky areas, including real estate.
In orderto help those who want to buy a house to live, many banks still havepolicies to reduce interest rates for their demand. However,they will carefully appraise loans to avoid loosening for speculators,according to experts./.
VNA
