*What will the Ministry of Construction do to build more affordable houses so more people can own their own homes?
UnderDecree 61/NQ-CP, the government agreed to extend the support programmefor low-income people, particularly in urban areas, to buy, build orrehabilitate houses from 10 to 15 years.
Hopefully with access tothe government's low-interest loans, more low-income people will beable to buy houses of their own. This will spur real estate development.
Toimplement the decree, the Ministry of Construction worked with theState Bank to enable people to get loans faster. Our ministry hasinstructed authorities to review real estate projects in theirlocalities, simplify investment procedures for building affordablehousing and switch commercial real estate projects to affordable housingprojects. These are just some of the measures our ministry hasundertaken to enable more people to access the government's creditpackage of 30.38 trillion VND (1.43 billion USD) to buy homes of theirown.
*However, some experts suggest that the government's packageshould focus on housing development companies so that they will buildmore affordable housing. What's your position on this?
The 1.43billion USD package is for both real estate developers and homebuyers;70 percent of the sum will go to loans for homebuyers and the remainderwill be lent to developers.
The high-end apartment and villamarket faces the problem of high inventory. However, small andmedium-sized apartments are in short supply. That's why in the immediatefuture, the government's package will focus on supporting housingcompanies and low-income people to balance supply and demand.
InVietnam , average income per capita is about 1,500 USD per annum andabout up to 80 percent of the population is in the low or medium incomebracket. As a result, they can only afford apartments costing less than 1billion VND (47,500 USD). People with more than 2 billion VND can buycommercial houses.
*Why did the Ministry of Construction ask the government to increase and extend the support package?
About50 percent of people living in Hanoi‘s urban areas are workers orpublic employees. How can they save money from their salaries to buy orbuild houses? That's why they need support from the government. OurNational Housing Development Strategy by 2020 and the Vision toward 2030says that housing development is the responsibility of the State, thesociety and the people. From this point of view, the government hasasked the banking institutions in Vietnam to provide loans with lowinterest rates and reasonable lending terms to housing developers andlow-income people in urban areas. Decree 61 has won high appreciationfrom people.-VNA