It must be acknowledged that there is a genuine demand for housing among officials and public employees relocating from merged provinces to new administrative centers. However, under current policy guidelines, these individuals will be given priority for allocation of official residences or state-subsidized rental housing. The demand for housing in new administrative centers may not be strong enough to spark a genuine land fever—except in cases driven by speculation. According to the Vietnam Real Estate Association’s Q1 2025 market report, land prices in several localities have surged by 5–30% following news of provincial mergers. The real estate market in areas surrounding the proposed administrative centers is especially active, with tens of thousands of investors entering the fray. Speculators’ tactics are nothing new. Real estate firms and brokers often collude to create artificial market buzz by engaging in mutual property transactions and aggressively promoting purchase and deposit contracts on platforms like YouTube, Zalo, Facebook, and TikTok to attract investors. The Ministry of Finance’s Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC requires both buyers and sellers to declare taxes within 10 days of the notarized contract taking effect. However, many brokers and real estate companies exploit this ’10-day window’ by signing notarized contracts and then canceling them […]