The Director of the Institute of Resource and Environmental Economics of Ho Chi Minh City has proposed to the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, to increase the price of agricultural land in the land price table to 65-70% of the residential land price to reduce land use fees for the people.
Decision 79/2024 on amending and supplementing Decision 02/2020 on the land price table in Ho Chi Minh City has helped the city’s authorities a great deal in compensation, resettlement, land rent calculation, and taxes.
However, the land price table has set the agricultural land price too low, leading to budget difficulties as people have withdrawn their land use tax dossiers in the past year.
The Institute of Resource and Environmental Economics of Ho Chi Minh City has reported on the market impact of applying the land price table according to Decision 79/2024. The results show that the high land prices have negatively affected the overall market in the area.
The Institute of Resource and Environmental Economics of Ho Chi Minh City proposed adjusting the agricultural land price in Decision 79 to 65-70% of the residential land price.
This has reduced budget revenue from changing land use purposes, hindered the real estate market, and deeply affected the construction materials market due to restrictions on new construction by the people. The impact on the people’s lives is evident in business premises rentals, reduced purchases, and consumption. It will also affect Ho Chi Minh City’s double-digit growth target for 2025.
According to Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, Director of the Institute of Resource and Environmental Economics of Ho Chi Minh City, people now have to pay 250-300% more in taxes when converting agricultural land to residential land compared to before the land price table took effect. This is because the adjusted land prices in Ho Chi Minh City have a large margin between residential and agricultural land prices. As a result, the land use fee when changing the land purpose increases significantly, calculated by subtracting the agricultural land price from the residential land price, making it unaffordable for many people.
To ensure objectivity in accordance with the spirit of the 2024 Land Law and the land price table, which will take effect on January 1, 2026, the Institute of Resource and Environmental Economics of Ho Chi Minh City recommends that the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee re-evaluate the low-set agricultural land prices, lacking scientific basis, and not ensuring market principles as stipulated in Decree 71/2024.
Therefore, to address the people’s difficulties and increase budget revenues, the land price table needs to be adjusted in the last six months of 2025 before the new land price table takes effect on January 1, 2026, for the newly merged Ho Chi Minh City. The local Chairman has the authority to adjust the agricultural land prices in the land price table under Decision 79/2024, which is in line with the Land Law and related legal provisions.
The Institute of Resource and Environmental Economics of Ho Chi Minh City proposes adjusting agricultural land prices in Decision 79 to 65-70% of the residential land prices in the land price table. The scope of adjustment includes agricultural land located in residential areas or agricultural land in the same plot as residential land.
