Tricks of spreading news about province mergers to 'inflate' land prices

In recent days, although there has been no official decision on the province merger plan, the real estate market in the areas expected to be merged has fluctuated a lot, causing market disruption.

On many websites, especially Facebook, there is information about selling land in Hung Yen, Phu Pho, Hai Duong, Hai Phong... with attractive advertisements, ensuring that land prices will skyrocket in the near future. And this is a great opportunity for investors to put money down. However, in this situation, many experts advise that people need to be extremely careful with unfounded information to avoid losing both money and health.

Analyzing this situation, Lieutenant Colonel, Doctor Ngo Trung Hoa, senior lecturer of the Economic Police Department, People's Police Academy, said that the policy of merging provincial-level administrative units is a correct and timely policy of the Party and State, creating favorable conditions for Vietnam to fulfill its socio-economic development mission in the era of national development.

Lieutenant Colonel Ngo Trung Hoa also affirmed that after merging and upgrading administrative units, the State will prioritize resources and funding to build facilities and infrastructure such as electricity, roads, schools, stations, hospitals and public facilities... this leads to increased demand for land use, increasing real estate value.

However, according to Lieutenant Colonel Hoa, we must also be frank and admit that the current abnormal increase in land prices in some areas does not reflect the true value of real estate assets, as well as market demand. And this distorts the real estate market. Because some land brokers have spread false information. Thereby, land speculation, land price increases, stimulating investment psychology for profit, causing consequences for investors and difficulties in state management.

From an expert perspective, Lieutenant Colonel Hoa affirmed that investors will face many risks.

Firstly, they are prone to the psychology of speculating with the crowd. For example, in this case, information related to the headquarters of the administrative units after the merger is only at the level of rumors, and no state agency has announced or confirmed the information. This leads to investors buying land in places that are not planned as expected, or the legality of the land in that area is not guaranteed.

Second, investors buy land at unreasonable prices, leading to easy victimization by land price inflation subjects. In some cases, many people even fall victim to scams.

“When the market cools down, real estate values ​​decrease, and liquidity is not available, investors will suffer financial losses,” said Lieutenant Colonel Hoa.

According to Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Ngo Trung Hoa, currently, legal regulations provide relatively complete provisions on violations of the law in real estate business activities.

Specifically, according to the 2014 Real Estate Law, Article 8 stipulates prohibited acts in real estate business such as false information, fraudulent acts and can be handled and fined up to 50 million VND.

For acts of "inflating" land prices, if causing serious consequences, showing signs of fraud and property appropriation, criminal liability will be prosecuted under Article 174 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended in 2017.

Faced with this situation, Dr. Ngo Trung Hoa gave advice to investors, emphasizing that real estate business and real estate investment are worthy needs and should be encouraged. However, in the face of the current land fever, investors need to carefully consider information about investment activities. Because this has a direct impact on the effectiveness of investment activities.

Second, investors need to carefully research the legal aspects of planning, as well as the future or effectiveness, capabilities, and opportunities for success in their investment activities.

Third, when investors discover fraudulent behavior in real estate business activities, they must immediately report to local authorities and competent agencies to promptly take measures to prevent violations of the law.

Finally, investors need to be patient, careful and thoughtful. That is the key to help investors minimize risks and bring success in investment activities.