Nguyen Van Dinh, Vice Chair of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, believes there is an issue with current pricing.

"Many localities are setting sky-high land prices, though their pricing method is correct when based on market transactions as a benchmark," he said.

"Streamlining the administrative system and merging localities will benefit businesses in general, and real estate businesses in particular, through faster procedural processes," said Dinh at the forum "Real Estate Investment in the New Era: New Thinking - New Opportunities" on July 3.

However, he warned that real estate businesses will face challenges in the near future, as the legal framework, though partially improved, remains incomplete and requires further adjustments.

“When we reviewed those transactions, we found that most were highly 'inflated.' We can say that these transaction prices were manipulated by certain market players. As a result, when these prices are used to set official price lists, it effectively legitimizes and legalizes these 'artificial' or 'bubble' prices," Dinh explained.

According to Dinh, this is dangerous, as it hinders investment capital flow when businesses leasing land must pay inflated prices. Real estate prices are driven up by these artificial transactions, making it difficult for those with genuine needs to access the market.

Dinh proposed that all transactions should go through trading floors to ensure better control and prevent manipulation, speculation, and price inflation.

Le Xuan Nghia, former Vice Chair of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, now Director of the Development Consulting Institute, argued that, looking back, real estate policies sometimes failed to keep up with the market's rapid changes, leading to regrettable consequences.

In 2016, ministries and branches made every effort to address an oversupply of housing, and this inadvertently created a shortage of projects in subsequent years.

"Controlling the number of projects, though well-intentioned, sometimes leads to excessive control, which, combined with other factors, may exacerbate the supply shortage and push real estate prices higher in recent years," Nghia said.

However, the expert believes the real estate market is opening up new, promising opportunities.

"The government's strategic move to merge provinces promises to spark a strong wave of urbanization nationwide. We can expect the formation of modern satellite cities and bustling twin cities, creating a real estate market with new growth momentum," Nghia said.

“Building transparent financial records, meeting standards, and achieving credit ratings will be key factors for businesses to participate in the 'big games' in the market," Nghia said.

Anh Phuong