HCMC – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued an official dispatch to nine banks, urging them to accelerate the disbursement of loans under the VND145-trillion credit package aimed at boosting social housing development.
The dispatch, issued to Agribank, Vietcombank, VietinBank, BIDV, TPBank, Techcombank, VPBank, MB, and HDBank, aligns with the Government’s efforts to provide affordable housing for low-income people and factory workers.
The SBV has excluded loans for social housing projects registered under Government Resolution 33 from the annual credit growth targets of participating banks.
The program, designed to run until 2030, aims to facilitate the development of social housing, worker housing, and the renovation of older apartment buildings.
However, the disbursement rate of the credit package, initially set at VND120 trillion, has been sluggish. As of the end of the third quarter of 2024, only VND150 billion had been disbursed to homebuyers across 12 projects.
Only 36 out of 63 provinces have identified and announced eligible projects for these preferential loans.
This slow progress is reportedly attributed to several factors, including high interest rates and stringent lending criteria, which have made it hard for low-income households to gain access to those loans.
The SBV has urged banks to offer more favorable terms and conditions for social housing loans. The Government is also streamlining the approval process for social housing projects.
The central bank recently lowered the interest rate for housing support loans to 4.7% per annum, effective from January 1, 2025. This 0.1-percentage-point reduction is expected to enhance affordability and stimulate market activity.
Since 2021, 644 social housing projects have been initiated, totaling 580,109 units. However, only 96 projects have been completed, with 57,652 units made available, according to the Ministry of Construction.
