Hanoi (VNA) – Authorities are planning to continuetightening credit for real estate in the time ahead, which is hoped to havepositive impacts on the market, heard a forum in Hanoi on May 4.

Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors(VARS) Nguyen Manh Ha said credit for real estate will be under strictercontrol in the coming time as the central bank is collecting opinions about adraft document which will replace its 2014 circular on prudential ratios inoperations of credit organisations and foreign banks’ branches.

Under this draft, the maximum rate of short-termcapital used to fund medium- and long-term loans will be reduced to 30 percent.Meanwhile, the capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio will be raised from 50percent to 150 percent for personal loans of 3 billion VND and above.

These amendments are set to have considerableinfluence on the real estate market, Ha predicted.

Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, former Deputy Director of theCentral Institute for Economic Management, said in the long run, Vietnam’sproperty market will remain attractive to foreign investors. 

He added the monetary policy will be tightenedin a way that gives the top priority to banks’ health so as to ensuremacro-economic stability. Therefore, capital sources will be controlled, butthey will be healthy.

Echoing this, Nguyen Manh Khoi, Deputy Directorof the Construction Ministry’s department for housing and property marketmanagement, said the newly issued policies and the regulations that are goingto be revised are expected to have positive impacts on the market, but theyneed some time to prove their effect.

The central bank’s tightening of credit for realestate will also be a chance for businesses to restructure their investmentstrategies and financial resources, he noted.

According to VARS Chairman Ha, the propertymarket still recorded stable development in 2018 with good growth in supply andsuccessful transactions in all segments.

Notably, apartments accounted for the majorityof the housing supply in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, at 87.2 percent and 89.7percent, respectively. The rate of mid-end apartments made up 41.3 percent ofthe supply, higher than that of affordable ones.

The market tended to become stagnant in thefirst quarter of 2019, when the housing supply fell 25 percent in Hanoi and 50percent in HCM City compared to the same period last year, Ha said.

Meanwhile, both supply and transactions oftourism property have continued developing strongly in many localities, notonly in popular attractions like Da Nang or Nha Trang cities but also otherpotential destinations, including Quy Nhon city (Binh Dinh province), and QuangBinh, Quang Ninh, Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces, he added.-VNA