CaliToday (15/9/2025): The Ho Chi Minh City administration has officially initiated a comprehensive investigation and survey process to completely rebuild its official land price framework. This significant move aims to address the long-standing and vast discrepancies between government-stipulated land prices and their actual, often much higher, market values.
The initiative, launched by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, is expected to bring greater transparency, fairness, and accuracy to the city's burgeoning real estate sector. For years, the outdated official land price table has been a source of major contention and complication, impacting everything from state budget revenue to the livelihoods of citizens.
The core problems stemming from the current, inadequate framework include:
Inaccurate Taxation: The official land price is the foundation for calculating "land use fees," a substantial tax levied on property developers when they are allocated land for a new project. With official prices far below market rates, the state has potentially lost out on significant tax revenue.
Unfair Compensation: When the state reclaims land from citizens or businesses for public infrastructure or new developments, the compensation offered is based on the official price framework. This has frequently led to disputes and public discontent, as the compensation amounts are often insufficient for residents to purchase equivalent property elsewhere.
Lack of Transparency: The wide gap between official and market prices has created an opaque environment, leading to complex negotiations, project delays, and potential for corruption.
The new endeavor will involve extensive surveys, data collection, and analysis of real-world market transactions across all districts of the city. The goal is to develop a new, dynamic land price framework that more accurately reflects the true market value of land in different areas.
This move is widely anticipated to have a profound impact on the real estate market. For citizens, it is hoped that the new framework will lead to fairer compensation packages during site clearance processes. For property developers and the government, it is expected to create a more transparent and predictable system for calculating taxes and fees, streamlining project approvals and reducing disputes.
While the transition may present challenges, the overhaul is seen as a crucial and necessary step toward creating a healthier, more stable, and equitable real estate environment in Vietnam's economic powerhouse.
