Will people who own multiple properties be taxed?

In a report sent to the Government Office, the Ministry of Construction proposed a tax policy for cases of owning and using many houses and lands to limit speculation and buying and selling in a short period of time to make a profit.

At a press conference on the morning of September 27, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said that the Ministry of Finance fully agreed with this proposal of the Ministry of Construction. "A very acceptable proposal. The Ministry of Finance acknowledges and studies this policy," Mr. Chi said.

However, the leader of the Ministry of Finance also said that the policies need to be comprehensive, so that the real estate market is transparent. "Tax policy alone will not meet the comprehensiveness, the ultimate goal will not be achieved," said Mr. Chi, saying that other policies such as land and planning must also be synchronized.

Previously, the Ministry of Construction proposed that the finance sector study and advise on tax policies for second homes or abandoned, unused properties. This was made in the context of real estate and housing prices continuously increasing sharply since the beginning of the year. Many land auctions in suburban districts had winning prices of up to hundreds of millions of VND/m2, many times higher than the starting price, affecting the healthy development of the market.

In addition to land plots, apartment prices also increased. According to data from the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS), the apartment price index in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the second quarter increased by 58% and 27% respectively compared to 2019. More than 80% of the supply launched this year is priced from 50 million VND per square meter or more. Real estate prices in suburban areas range from 40-80 million VND/m2, while in the center they are up to more than 100 million VND/m2.

In fact, this is not the first time that a second real estate tax solution has been proposed to reduce housing prices. Recently, VARS also proposed a real estate tax policy for two groups of people, including buyers of second homes or more and owners who abandon the project. The tax rate will gradually increase for transactions where the seller has a short ownership period.