Suburban auctioned land worth over 100 million/m² abandoned, can it be taxed?

Many plots of land that won auctions last year in the suburbs of Hanoi caused shock because some plots cost more than 100 million VND/m², but are now abandoned without houses built on, causing waste.

Land lots in Son Dong commune were auctioned in 2024, with one lot winning the auction price of 133.3 million VND/m2, but now it is surrounded by weeds - Photo: D.KHANG

Not only that, many other auctioned lands with owners from several years ago also suffer from the same situation of weeds growing over half a person's head. Meanwhile, talking to Tuoi Tre, experts said that it is time to "treat" the auctioned lands.

Frozen after hot auctions

Surely many people still have not forgotten the auction of 68 plots of land in Binh Minh commune that took place last year (August 2024) attracting thousands of applications. Notably, there was a lot with a winning price of over 100 million VND/ ^m2 while the starting price was only from 8.6 - 12.5 million VND/ ^m2 . After a year, reporters returned to survey and found that dozens of these plots had owners but houses had not yet been built.

Mr. Chieu (Binh Minh commune) said that after the first auction (August 2024), by March 1, 2025, more than 50 lots with no deposit had been successfully auctioned and the lot with the highest price was also more than 90 million VND/ ^m2 , but so far the owner has not come to build a house. According to Mr. Chieu, the owners of the lots after the two winning auctions are mostly other locals.

"Before the auction and after the results, many brokers came here. They even set up a container to sell land, but about a month later, they also disbanded. Everyone feels sorry for leaving the land abandoned, while households in the commune who want to buy separate household registration for their children after they get married do not have money because the winning price is too high," said Mr. Chieu.

Also in 2024, the auction of 19 plots of land in the village of Son Dong commune took place overnight, with a winning lot of 133.3 million VND/ ^m2 , shocking public opinion. About 3 months later, next to these plots, 20 other plots continued to be auctioned with the highest winning price of 103.3 million VND/ ^m2 , but dozens of plots of land after 2 auctions are still abandoned.

Sharing with reporters, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien (54 years old, Son Dong commune) said that this land was originally agricultural land, then recovered to be auctioned. At the time before the auction of land in the village in the area with wide roads for cars to enter, the actual price was only about 38 - 40 million VND/ ^m2 . But according to him, after the end of 2 auctions, the land price has doubled. People in need do not have money to buy because the price is too high.

"After the auction results were announced, many people came here, but since the beginning of March 2025 until now, this area has been quiet again," said Mr. Tien.

Trading is very sluggish

In Binh Minh commune, 48 other plots of land were put up for auction from the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023, but so far, it has been recorded that only 2 households have come to build houses.

After many years of saving, the family of Mrs. Phung Thi Nguyen (41 years old, Binh Minh commune) bought a plot of land measuring 86 square ^meters in the commune's auction land at a price of more than 40 million VND/ ^square meter to build a house. According to Mrs. Nguyen, the owners of the plots of land in the auction land are mostly from other places so they have no need to build a house.

"My family has just moved here for a little over a month. I hope that in the future there will be more families moving here to make the auction area more crowded," Ms. Nguyen shared.

Ms. Chu Thi Oanh (48 years old, Binh Minh commune) said that her family was the first household to come to the auctioned land to build a house. "Everyone hopes to have many neighbors, but in reality, many people buy auctioned land just to speculate," Ms. Oanh said.

Many brokers also admit that auctioned land in the suburbs of Hanoi is unsold. Mr. H., an employee of TH Real Estate Company, offers: "I currently have 2 auctioned land lots in Thanh Oai district, now Binh Minh commune. Lot 94 million VND/ ^m2 (winning bid 80 million VND/ ^m2 ) and lot at the corner location 100 million VND/ ^m2 (2nd auction winning price 90 million VND/ ^m2 )". However, according to Mr. H., although the price is not much different from the winning bid, the transaction is very gloomy.

Real estate staff of SH Company offering land for auction in Binh Minh commune also admitted that the lots being sold are not much different from last year.

"I have 2 lots that the owner has sent to sell, but for the past few months, no one has asked to buy them. The landowner is willing to sell, so the difference in price is not much, only 3-4 times higher than the time of winning the auction," this person said. An employee of HPL Real Estate Company said that land in Son Dong commune has also been unsold recently.

Forced to build houses, leaving land fallow must be taxed

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, Professor Dang Hung Vo, a resource management expert, said that the upside of auctioned land is that it creates a stable source of budget revenue for the locality. The downside is that a large amount of money that should have been used to produce goods and provide services is buried in the ground. In places that are preparing to become urban areas, the land is left fallow, which is not beneficial for development.

According to Professor Vo, this is the time to "treat" the auctioned land. Regarding the immediate solution, he said it is necessary to stipulate that after the auction results are available, houses must be built within a certain period of time. People who have auctioned land but do not build houses according to regulations, leaving it fallow will be taxed.

In the long term, it is necessary to regulate that the land division and sale mechanism is only applied to the social housing segment, not the commercial segment. Only aiming to serve the social security needs of low-income people, then land auctions will not be as hot as in recent years.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dat-dau-gia-ngoai-thanh-hon-tram-trieu-m-bo-hoang-danh-thue-duoc-khong-20250920081254188.htm