Apartment buildings for low-income earners in Tay Thanh Commune, HCM City's Tan Phu District. The city has set a target of selling another 3,000 apartments in the second half of the year and liquidating its inventory. — VNA/VNS Photo Manh Linh

HCM CITY (Biz Hub)— HCM City is keen to ensure apartments are sold to resolve the property market's inventory problem and enable low-income earners to acquire housing, Nhan Dan newspaper reported.

It quoted Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the city People's Committee, as saying that the inventory has declined by 14 per cent since late last year, falling from 14,490 apartments to 12,445 and a value of nearly VND22.5 trillion (US$1.06 billion).

Of the apartments remaining unsold, 3,625 are fully finished, including 1,000 that measure under 70 square metres and cost less than VND15 million ($700) per square metre.

The city has set a target of selling another 3,000 apartments in the second half of the year and liquidating the inventory in the next three years, Quan said, promising several measures to achieve the objectives.

Tran Trong Tuan, director of the city Department of Construction, agreed with Quan and said the target of selling 30-40 per cent of the remaining apartments by year-end is feasible.

This is because, according to a recent department survey, there are 308 projects that have been temporarily shelved due the lack of funds and authorities would work with developers to raise the required funds, he said.

Significantly, at the under construction projects bookings are very high — at 40 to 90 per cent — he said.

To ensure the plan's success, the department is working with developers of unsold apartments to adopt effective and appropriate solutions, he said.

One of them is a proposal for the city government to permit developers of 90 commercial housing projects with 5,882 units to convert them into low-cost housing.

The conversion process would be closely watched by the department and relevant agencies, he said.

The most important measure, however, would be to help people with low incomes get access to the Government's VND3 trillion ($143 million) preferential credit package to buy housing, he said.

Quan said relevant city departments have been ordered to study the demand for housing among government workers in the health care and education sectors and military personnel.

The construction department and district people's committees have been ordered to help people get bank loans at 6 per cent interest rate from the Government credit package to buy housing, he said.

Tuan said the department would meet with developers and banks once a month to speedily resolve difficulties faced by home buyers.

The agency would also announce the list of low-cost housing projects with their locations, prices, and names of lending to facilitate purchase, he added. — VNS