Vietnamese banks pour US$41bil into real estate market in 2023

HANOI: A total of 2.75 quadrillion dong (US$41bil) went into the property market in 2023, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), an increase of 6.75% in comparison to last year.

The bank said lower interest rates, which have been expected to prevail throughout this year, will likely result in a speedy recovery for the market.

In a recent report by the SBV, credit for the market accounted for about 26% of the total outstanding loans last year.

As a result, the lending rates for the market in commercial banks increased compared to the end of 2022.

Techcombank had the highest proportion of lending for property development activities, with 35.22% as of Dec 31, 2023, compared to 26.44% in the same period in 2022.

VPBank ranks second with a proportion of property lending at 19%, compared to 14.39% at the end of 2022.

VietBank also recorded 19%, but this rate decreased by one percentage point compared to the end of 2022.

Some other banks also saw a surge in the proportion of property lending, such as Hanoi Building Joint-stock Commercial Bank increasing from 8.33% to 15.45%; and Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank increasing from 4.91% to 7.49%.

Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank recorded a slight increase from 8.75% to 8.96% of total outstanding loans, Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank rising from 6.31% to 7.12%, while this rate at Saigonbank remained unchanged at 6%.

According to the report, credit growth in 2023 was recorded at 13.5%, reflecting the banking sector’s effort to support the property market. The central bank said it has set a credit growth target of 15% for 2024.

VNDirect Securities Company said the gradual easing of “bottlenecks” will help the market recover from the second half of 2024. It said the reduced interest rate will give developers more room in terms of capital, and support housing demand.

VNDirect also expects the net profit margin of developers to recover in the coming quarters. — Viet Nam News/ANN