PM laments focus on high-end housing, calls for balance

They lack specific strategies to manage the market, and the investment flows are mostly directed toward meeting rich people’s demand though there is shortage of low-income housing, he said at a meeting with the Ministry of Construction Tuesday.

The regulation that developers should earmark 20 percent of their land for social housing has not been properly implemented, he said.

The ministry needs to develop strategies and use regulations and taxes to ensure there is a balance in the market to meet the demands of people with various needs, especially those with low incomes, he said.

In HCMC, in the first quarter there was not a single affordable apartment project while the high-end and luxury segments together accounted for 59 percent of supply, according to real estate consultancy CBRE.

The imbalance between the high-end and affordable segments has surged in recent years since developers make higher profit margins in the former amid limited land availability in large cities.