Preventing Real Estate Price Manipulation
Speaking at the forum “Building a Healthy and Sustainable Real Estate Market 2025,” Ms. Tống Thị Hạnh, Director of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management, Ministry of Construction, emphasized that to determine whether real estate price manipulation exists, it is crucial to clarify the components that form the selling price.
Real estate prices primarily consist of land costs, construction expenses (materials, labor, machinery, taxes, interest on loans), and technical infrastructure costs allocated to each project. Adding sales expenses, developer profits, and other incidental costs results in the final selling price.
In practice, policy changes in wages alter labor cost structures, while rising construction material prices directly impact real estate selling prices.
In the primary market, developer profits must be regulated to balance the interests of businesses and consumers. The secondary market, heavily influenced by intermediaries, requires control by first understanding primary market prices and transactions.
The Ministry of Construction, alongside other ministries, is implementing measures to curb price manipulation, focusing on information transparency. A national real estate database decree is under development to ensure transparency in supply, pricing, project legality, and property identification. Once data is accessible, the secondary market can be effectively regulated.
Another critical aspect of market control is examining segment structure and inventory. The market currently faces an oversupply of high-end properties but a severe shortage of affordable housing and social housing. Policies must prioritize developing segments that meet real housing needs.
“We are also moving toward establishing a state-managed electronic real estate trading center, involving relevant agencies such as land, tax, and finance, to monitor transactions and reduce price manipulation risks. In the secondary market, credit, financial, and tax policies will play a key role in regulating speculative behavior,” said Ms. Hạnh.
 Ms. Tống Thị Hạnh – Director of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management, Ministry of Construction
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According to Mr. Vũ Sỹ Kiên, Deputy Director of the Department of Land Management, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, land costs account for approximately 30% of low-rise housing prices and 10% of apartment prices. Many projects paid land use fees before 2020 but only sold in 2023-2024, so land costs are not the primary driver of price increases. The main issue remains prolonged supply shortages, which significantly drive up prices. Even social housing, exempt from land use fees, remains expensive due to slow land clearance and unresolved land issues, increasing input costs.
Mr. Kiên believes the key to stabilizing land prices lies in new regulations on land price tables and adjustment coefficients, ensuring transparent input costs and clear segment differentiation for appropriate revenue regulation.
Challenges in Criminalizing Price Manipulation
Lieutenant Colonel Phạm Hải Bình, Lecturer at the Economic Police Department, People’s Police Academy, noted that the Penal Code currently lacks provisions for real estate price manipulation. Only acts such as project investment fraud, land use rights misuse for loans, tax evasion in real estate transactions, or land auction violations causing budget losses can be prosecuted. Speculation charges apply only to price-stabilized goods or state-priced goods, not real estate.
Incorporating market manipulation into criminal law requires careful, scientific evaluation. Hasty implementation could render it impractical and harm public interests.
Mr. Bình highlighted that unlike stock markets, real estate markets make it difficult for individuals to manipulate prices due to high financial requirements. Such acts could be considered fraud or information manipulation, providing false information to disrupt the real estate market.
Attorney Nguyễn Sỹ Hồng, Director of Legalserco VietNam LLC, noted that countries like the UK and US also lack specific laws against real estate price manipulation. They manage markets through four principles: transparency, trust-building, protecting vulnerable groups, and anti-speculation measures.
To reduce speculation and manipulation, Mr. Hồng stressed the need for real-time digitalized and transparent transactions. Taxes on speculative real estate, including vacant properties, should be imposed to curb hoarding.
“In Singapore, selling a property within three years incurs seven taxes; in the US and UK, business-related sales face up to 45% tax. These taxes eliminate speculative incentives,” Mr. Hồng illustrated.
Support Needed for Small Enterprises
Mr. Nguyễn Chí Thanh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Brokerage Association, highlighted that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) primarily develop properties under 50 million VND/m² but face significant barriers.
Large new urban projects benefit from state-led land clearance, while SMEs must negotiate independently, incurring higher costs and delays. Despite the rise of mega-urban projects over the past decade, SMEs remain vital in the affordable housing segment.
In the past nine months, 1,500 companies exited the market, and 3,500 suspended operations. Without support in land access, credit, and project implementation mechanisms for SMEs, the supply of properties under 50 million VND/m² will dwindle.
“SMEs struggle to access credit, preventing them from deeply engaging in segments affordable to most citizens,” Mr. Thanh explained.
Mr. Nguyễn Trí Hiếu: Real Estate Bubble Possible
– 09:39 05/12/2025
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