Home buyers are worried about the pressure of floating interest rates.

In fact, many customers want to borrow money to buy a house but are worried that in the next few months to half a year, bank interest rates will increase, floating interest rates will also fluctuate sharply, so the pressure to pay off debt is very stressful.

Ms. Thuy Ha's family in Hai Ba Trung (Hanoi) has accumulated 2 billion VND and is looking for a bank to borrow about 2 billion VND more to buy an apartment. According to actual records, Ms. Thuy Ha was approved by the bank for a loan with a preferential interest rate for the first year of 8.5%/year and then a floating interest rate. The estimated floating interest rate is about 11.5 - 12.5% ​​depending on the fluctuation of interest rates in the market.

Ms. Thuy Ha shared that if the interest rate was stable for the first 3 years, the pressure would be less, but if the interest rate was floating after only 1 year, the family would have to reconsider the loan plan. Especially in recent years, the economy has been difficult, the family is also worried about the fluctuation in income that will affect the amount of money to pay off the bank loan. Meanwhile, the interest rate tends to increase. Thus, the family has to tighten and control spending more, but is still under a lot of pressure, so they do not dare to sign a loan to buy a house.

This is also the story and consideration of many customers who are in need of bank loans to buy a house. Experts also commented that the current interest rates of banks have decreased but are still high compared to the expectations of home loan borrowers. Therefore, there is a situation where even though there are many preferential interest rates, customers are still quite indifferent.

Mr. Dinh Minh Tuan - Director of Batdongsan.com.vn in the Southern region said that customers should only consider buying a house in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City when they have an income of 30 million VND/month. For example, with a loan of about 1.4 to 1.5 billion VND, the homeowner must pay both principal and interest of 12 million VND/month. This is also a large amount of money for households with limited income because they have to pay many other expenses in life.

According to a recent survey of real estate users published by batdongsan.com.vn, more than 50% of participants said that home loan interest rates below 8% are reasonable, 29% accept interest rates from 8-10%, and only 10% accept borrowing with interest rates from 10-13% (calculated according to the floating rate).

The survey of customers who bought real estate in the past year also showed that the majority were middle-aged and 48% of them used their savings instead of borrowing to buy a house.

This expert analyzed that although banks are competing to reduce home loan interest rates, these are only preferential interest rates applied for a certain period of time depending on each bank's credit program. After the preferential period, interest rates will float according to the basic interest rate formula or the 12-13 month term deposit interest rate plus the usual margin of 2-3.6%/year.

Therefore, floating interest rates at many banks are currently at a relatively high level, around 9-10%/year at state-owned commercial banks. Meanwhile, some other commercial banks are anchored at 11-13%/year.

It is noted that in the current market, there is a shift of customers from one bank to another. These are borrowers who are paying high floating interest rates and are switching to borrow at the new bank to enjoy a better preferential interest rate of 2-4%/year. Although the old loans with floating interest rates are about 2-3% lower than before, they are still much higher than the mobilization level.

Meanwhile, in the market, real estate prices, especially apartment prices, have increased sharply throughout the past year and "stuck" at a high level with no signs of cooling down. In the first quarter of 2023, the average apartment price was about 40 million VND/m2, but now it has increased to about 48 million VND/m2. Similarly, the price of townhouses has also increased from 113 million VND/m2 to 135 million VND/m2... This price is considered beyond the financial capacity of many people.

The real estate market report for the first 6 months of 2024 by PropertyGuru Vietnam Company shows that in Hanoi, the average price of apartments increased by 31%, land by 19%, private houses by 32% and villas by 18% compared to the same period in 2023.

Even in Ho Chi Minh City, liquidity is still weak, but real estate prices only tend to go sideways. Prices of land, private houses, and townhouses have not decreased; apartments alone have increased by 6% compared to the same period.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy - CEO of the Faculty of Banking and Finance, Nguyen Trai University, although the interest rate for home loans has decreased, in general, banks fix it for the first 1-2 years at a level below 10%/year, then it will float with the interest rate for 12-month deposits plus a margin of 4-5%.

Although the interest rate is low, people are not interested because the house price is still high, the products with total value under 3 billion VND are few, most are from 5-8 billion VND. If they try to borrow, it will be very difficult to find the counterpart money and income to pay the principal and interest later.

At this time, many real estate investors with large scale in quantity and value are also stuck with goods, unable to liquidate large projects that they have invested in before... As for those with income and need to buy a house, they do not dare to borrow from banks because they are worried that the interest rate of mobilization in the coming time will increase, which will cause the interest rate of real estate loans to increase, leading to the risk of not being able to repay the principal and interest - Mr. Huy analyzed.

Experts say that interest rates are the key factor for customers to decide to borrow money to buy a house. Although interest rates for home loans are currently falling sharply, collecting in the context of economic difficulties is also a big challenge. Not to mention, mobilization interest rates are tending to increase again, leading to fluctuations in lending interest rates in the coming time.

For those who need to borrow money to buy a house, experts recommend that they need to calculate the balance between income, expenses and monthly interest; do not pay too much attention to preferential interest rates but calculate carefully based on floating interest rates. Avoid borrowing too much capital beyond your ability to repay and having to bear heavy pressure in life.