Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Hanoi’sproperty market will have more supply of social housing products for low-incomepeople by 2020 in order to address the paucity of those products on the marketcombined with the over-supply of commercial houses.

Construction of the Thang Long Green Cityhousing project started on October 14 in Kim Chung new urban area, Dong Anhdistrict, Hanoi as a joint venture of the Hanoi Housing Development andInvestment Corporation (Handico) and the Viglacera Corporation.

The Thang Long Green City with a totalinvestment of 1.3 trillion VND (55.58 million USD) is expected to be completedby 2020, supplying 1,588 apartments for the market, meeting the demands ofabout 5,330 people.

This product is expected to have selling priceof 12.6 million VND per square metre and rent at 50,000 VND per square metreper month.

In addition, Hanoi has some social housingprojects under construction, including the Kien Hung - Ha Dong social housingproject with 432 apartments and the AZ Thang Long social and commercial servicecomplex in Lai Xa village, Kim Chung commune, Hoai Duc district with nearly1,500 apartments.

As the city faces a shortage of apartments forlow-income people, including workers, those projects are expected to add supplyto the social housing fund of Hanoi, contributing to the social security of thecapital city. This is also a part of the Government’s housing developmentstrategy by 2020 and vision to 2030 as well as the city’s housing developmentplan during 2016-20.

According to those plans, the country needsaccommodation for three million workers, low-income people and people withmeritorious services to the revolution, including one million people in Hanoi.

However, since the 30 trillion VND housingstimulus package ended in 2016, the development of social housing projects inthe country, including Hanoi, has been slowing down and some of the projectshave had to shut down due to a lack of funds.

Hanoi now has nine social housing projectsselling and leasing apartments while 25 projects are under construction and areexpected to be complete by 2020. These projects are located in the districts ofThanh Xuan, Hoang Mai, Ha Dong, Nam Tu Liem, Long Bien, Gia Lam, Thanh Tri,Dong Anh, Me Linh and Hoai Duc, reported the Thoi bao Tai chinh Vietnam(Vietnam Financial Times) newspaper.

The nine social housing projects have not metthe demands of the low-income people in the capital city.

Nguyen Van Dinh, Vice Chairman of the VietnamReal Estate Brokerage Association, said investment in social housing projectswas not the first choice of many businesses, because the businesses could notgain many profits from these projects like commercial housing projects.

In addition, the social housing projectsreceive land tax incentives but those bring limits on the sale price and profitwhile the prices of construction materials and labour are not reduced, he said.

According to the Ministry of Construction, inthe first half of this year, the programme of social housing development forlow-income people in urban areas has completed 86 projects supplying about34,700 apartments for the market. Meanwhile, the social housing developmentprogramme for industrial park workers has had 100 projects finishingconstruction with about 41,000 apartments. However, this supply has only partlymet the demand for social housing in the domestic market.-VNS/VNA