Consequences of the two-price system for land in the land and housing market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Truong Thien Thu*, Ranjith Perera

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In Vietnam, land is acquired from land-use-right certificate holders and allocated to developers of real estate projects by the State, based on a government imposed land-price framework that does not adhere to market principles. Once developed, land is transacted between developers and buyers based on the prevailing market price. This separate price system on land is intended to encourage capital from investors to flow and stimulate economic development. In reality, this policy has led to prolonged conflicts over land acquisition. The conflicts in turn have led to insufficient supply of land for developing residential projects in Ho Chi Minh City. Despite the unbalanced demand and supply of land, the land and housing market in Ho Chi Minh City is in a 'thriving condition'. The study finds that the thriving condition is due to fierce speculation on already available land lots and partially or fully completed housing units in the market. Employing a market survey of 494 residential projects, this study examined the underlying causes of that 'thriving condition'. It seems that the Government is trapped by a peculiar two-price system that favours the developers over the public in general.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)30-39
Number of pages10
JournalHabitat International
Volume35
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Foreign direct investment
  • Land and housing market
  • Land price
  • Vietnam

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Urban Studies

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Consequences of the two-price system for land in the land and housing market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this