Buying social housing but... not happy
(Baonghean.vn). In Vinh City, Cua Lo, and the province's concentrated industrial zones, there are still thousands of people in need of social housing. The social housing development project has been approved, but after 4 years, only Tecco Company (Ho Chi Minh City) has invested in building 3 buildings with a total of 150 apartments. Although they have been anxiously waiting and registered to buy a house, many people are still disappointed...
Buyers disappointed because of... price
Mr. Dinh Van Phong (Southeast Economic Zone Management Board), Mr. Nguyen Thanh Dung (Truong Tien Block - Hung Binh), Ms. Vo Thi Ngan (Block 12 - Doi Cung - Vinh City), Ms. Tran Thi Phuong (Hung Binh - Vinh City), Mr. Nguyen Van Chien (Provincial Party Committee Inspection Board)... are those who submitted applications to buy social housing from Tecco Company in Le Loi Ward and were fortunately approved by the city to buy houses. However, most households are unhappy because... the housing prices sold by the investor are quite high: from 7 million, 7.5 million to 8 million VND/m2 depending on the area and floor. A 60m2 apartment costs 480 million VND, which is quite high for most low-income households. Most of the households that bought social housing this time are young officials in state agencies, schools, police, soldiers, in addition to some retired officials, freelancers...
Social housing built by Tecco in Le Loi ward - Vinh city.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thanh (Department of Planning and Investment) said: Buying a house is already difficult, but with high house prices and only 2 installments, I don't know where to get the money to pay. The investor requires 70% of the money to be paid immediately before moving in, and the remaining 30% will be paid after the official price of the Provincial People's Committee is available. Ms. Lan Oanh (Nghi Xuan Electricity - Ha Tinh) said: I thought that social housing had a very preferential price, supported by the state. But unexpectedly, the price is almost equal to the price of commercial housing. Mr. Nguyen Van Chien (Provincial Party Committee Inspection Board) bought apartment A207, building A - Le Loi, said: I paid 70% of the house price, equivalent to 300 million VND because I heard that the investor has not received any support from the state, so it is more difficult for us to buy a house.
The price of a square meter of social housing that Tecco Company temporarily sells to households is from 7 million, 7.5 to 8 million VND/m2. This price is high according to home buyers. Because according to the Project on social housing development, home buyers know: in the Project, the investment capital for the pilot construction of social housing is allocated by the province 20 billion VND from the budget combined with capital from enterprises to build houses, along with other incentives, some preferential policies: extension, reduction of payment time will create conditions for civil servants, armed forces, workers to have houses... at the most reasonable price.
The investor was also... disappointed.
Tecco is the only one of the 13 registered units to build social housing that has kept its promise. So far, only Tecco has implemented on schedule and provided the market with 3 5-storey buildings for sale to low-income people. While marching, lining up, constructing and waiting for the province's policy, but so far there is still no policy.
Mr. Bui Van Quyen - Director of Tecco Branch in Vinh City said: In Le Loi ward, the Company is implementing the construction of 2 social housing buildings in accordance with the approved design, with a total of 106 apartments, a total investment of 40 billion VND. In the condition that the investment capital is not supported by the state, the bank loan interest rate is too high, and the construction is carried out at a time when iron and steel materials are skyrocketing, the current approved selling price for investors is reasonable. We do not expect to make a profit when building these buildings, we only hope to achieve "achievements", to be a pioneer in contributing to improving the housing conditions of the city". "It is known that the province has supported land use fees for areas for social housing construction? ". Mr. Quyen replied: "In the general service and social housing area in Le Loi ward, the area is just over 1 hectare, of which the social housing area supported with land use fees is 1,280m2, the total amount of land supported is 2.8 billion VND. We do not include this amount in the cost price at all."
Mr. Chu Tu Duong - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tecco Central Company - the social housing construction unit in Hung Loc also said: We also had to invest 100% of the capital to build the houses, currently we have completed the construction of 46 houses, with a total investment of 17 billion VND. After a month of selling houses, we have only collected 3 billion VND. This building has been completed for many months, the city has not yet approved the subjects to buy, causing the investor to have to pay bank interest for two years. The selling price of 7.5 million VND only ensures capital recovery. On the 5th floor, we sell for only 7 million but no one has bought yet".
Mr. Nguyen Huu Quy - Head of Investment Department of the Department of Finance said: In my opinion, if the investor spends all the money on social housing, it is reasonable to pay about 7 million VND/m2, and the investor will also make a small profit. Mr. Ha Thanh Tinh - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee also commented: the city often approves the construction floor price of 1m2 at about 6.5 million VND.
However, house prices also depend on location, convenience of transportation, space, surrounding environment...
Currently, according to the documents we have, social housing buildings have been certified by the Nghe An Construction Inspection Center under the Department of Construction for construction quality, certified that the construction ensures safety in terms of load bearing and is consistent with approved construction drawings.
The Provincial People's Committee also issued Document No. 2033/UBND-CN dated April 21, 2011 on agreeing to allow the investor of the social housing project to temporarily use the estimated price to notify customers to prepare. The approval of the final settlement must be carried out soon and customers and investors must have a commitment to buy and sell low-income housing at the price appraised by the Department of Finance and approved by the Provincial People's Committee. Thus, the current selling price of the house is still only an estimated price, not officially approved by the Provincial People's Committee.
Looking back at the Provincial Social Housing Development Project, it can be seen that it has not been achieved when not many investors are interested in investing in construction. Especially when building social housing, investors cannot mobilize any capital from buyers like commercial housing. Some companies registered to participate in the construction of social housing have not kept their commitments. The reason is partly due to the slow promulgation of policies on construction and sale of social housing, and the lack of investment support capital from the province.
Mr. Bui Van Quyen - Director of Tecco Branch in Vinh City gave his opinion: To reduce the selling price of houses, the city should approve the home buyers first. The home buyers should contribute capital with the investor, little by little is better than paying twice. In the current difficult conditions, that also supports investors with part of the capital.
According to Article 34 and Article 39 - Decree No. 71/CP dated June 23, 2010 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Housing Law, "The selling price and the rental price of social housing invested not with the state budget are calculated according to the following principles: a). The selling price of social housing built by the project investor ensures sufficient costs to recover the construction investment capital, including loan interest (if any) and the prescribed profit, excluding the state incentives prescribed in Article 34 of this Decree in the selling price. In the case of deferred payment or installment payment, the buyer must make the first payment of no more than 20% of the housing price, unless otherwise agreed by the parties; the minimum period for deferred payment or installment payment is 10 years from the date of signing the housing purchase contract. b). The rental and hire-purchase prices of social housing constructed by the project investor must include all costs of capital recovery for construction investment, including loan interest (if any), maintenance, management, operation costs and standard profits according to regulations, excluding state incentives in the rental and purchase prices. The capital recovery period for rental housing is at least 20 years from the date of signing the contract. The Provincial People's Committee is responsible for organizing the appraisal of the selling price, rental price, and hire-purchase price for social housing invested in and constructed with capital sources other than the local budget. At the same time, "Housing construction enterprises are supported with investment credit from the following sources: preferential credit loans or loan interest compensation according to regulations, loans from the Housing Development Fund or housing savings if available, and are considered by the Provincial People's Committee to support part or all of the loan interest." |
Chau Lan