Real estate prices are sky-high, experts propose to build a roadmap to levy 3 types of real estate taxes

Housing prices cannot remain as they are.

Speaking at the Vietnam Financial Advisory Council (VWAS) 2025 High-Level Forum - Annual Forum, Dr. Can Van Luc - Chief Economist of BIDV commented that "real estate credit is increasing very high". Specifically, up to now, real estate business credit has increased by 20 - 21%, double the general credit growth rate of the whole system.

According to a survey by BIDV’s chief economist , it currently takes a civil servant in Vietnam 26 years to buy an average-priced apartment, while the world average is 15 years. If there is no more drastic and synchronous solution in the near future, this number of years will continue to increase and the dream of owning a home for young people will become increasingly distant.

"We cannot let real estate prices increase forever like this," Dr. Can Van Luc emphasized.

Giá nhà đất — According to Dr. Can Van Luc, it currently takes a civil servant in Vietnam 26 years to buy an apartment of average price, while the average figure in the world is 15 years.

The Ministry of Construction's real estate market report for the second quarter of 2025 pointed out that apartment prices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City both recorded their highest prices in nearly a decade.

Specifically, in Hanoi, the average selling price in the market in the second quarter reached 80 million VND/m², an increase of 5.6% compared to the previous quarter (an increase of 33% compared to the same period), while the average apartment price in Ho Chi Minh City reached 89 million VND/m², an increase of about 36% compared to the same period last year.

In Hanoi alone, there are some apartment projects with prices up to 130-160 million VND/m², equivalent to each apartment of about 70m² will cost from 9-11 billion VND.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the Ministry of Construction assessed that apartment prices increased slightly, some luxury segments increased locally and established a new price level thanks to outstanding infrastructure advantages such as metro lines, beltways, Cat Lai tunnel and the expansion of many key routes such as Thu Thiem, Thao Dien, An Phu, Thanh My Loi... Some projects have prices of 160-200 million VND/m², equivalent to a 70m² apartment costing up to 11-14 billion VND/unit.

Explaining the continuously increasing real estate prices as well as the market's shortcomings, Mr. Can Van Luc pointed out 6 reasons.

Firstly, in recent times, many real estate projects have been entangled in legal issues, along with the fear of making mistakes and being held responsible, hindering the real estate supply. This situation has now been gradually resolved.

Second, due to limited supply and limited licensing, investors mainly invest in high-end projects. Because the profitability of high-end projects is higher than that of low-end segments.

Third, when supply and demand are unbalanced with the dominance of the high-end segment, while real demand in the mid-range and affordable segments, including low-cost social housing, has pushed prices up.

Fourth is the situation of speculation, price inflation, and price manipulation. Mr. Luc said that the price manipulation was caused by some investors themselves. Some brokers also joined in the price manipulation, pushing the price up.

Fifth is speculation, Mr. Luc cited a survey by batdongsan.com with 600 real estate investors, 86% of whom said they planned to sell within 1 year, instead of actually living in the house.

Finally, there is no real estate tax yet, as currently only 2% of transactions are subject to registration fees. According to Dr. Can Van Luc, Vietnam's real estate tax revenue accounts for about 1.6% of total budget revenue, while other countries' revenue is about 4-5%.

Building a roadmap for levying 3 types of real estate taxes

Regarding solutions, Dr. Can Van Luc emphasized the solution to increase supply from resolving legal issues. The government is planning to establish a national housing development fund. This will help increase the supply of social housing and affordable housing, mainly for rent.

Besides, it is necessary to resolve the stalled projects, currently there are nearly 3,000 projects with total investment capital of about 6 million billion VND.

"Just removing 10-15% of nearly 3,000 projects will have a large amount of capital injected into the economy. This will not only help increase supply but also be a growth driver for the economy," said Mr. Luc.

Next, Mr. Luc affirmed that it is necessary to strictly handle price inflation and price manipulation, including land auctions.

Finally, according to experts from BIDV, we need to think about real estate taxation. According to Mr. Luc, many people think that real estate taxation will cause the market to "collapse", but this is completely wrong. Because the taxation will be implemented according to a roadmap, not immediately.

"Real estate tax requires data information, it takes 1-2 years to have data. The government is very determined to collect land and real estate data. It is necessary to have a roadmap to tax 3 types of real estate, international countries have done this for a long time.

The first is transaction tax (on revenue or profit). The second is tax on second homes and beyond. The last is inheritance tax," Dr. Can Van Luc stated his opinion.

Sharing the same view, Ms. Duong Thuy Dung - CEO of CBRE Vietnam said that sooner or later, we must consider real estate taxation. Taxation is necessary, but according to Ms. Duong, what is more important is how to tax, what is the tax rate, how to calculate the tax... For example, how much tax is levied on owning a second home, how to calculate the tax when buying a house and selling it again after 1 year...

"Taxation is like we are sick and need to take medicine. But we need to take medicine to get well, so the dosage must be calculated," Ms. Dung said.

Source: https://vtv.vn/gia-nha-dat-tren-troi-chuyen-gia-de-xuat-xay-lo-trinh-danh-3-loai-thue-bat-dong-san-100250925212853137.htm