HCMC – Land use fee calculation to be reviewed
06-01-2013
This was one of the most discussed issues at a seminar aimed to seek solutions for the problems in the HCMC property market held by the HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA) in the city last Saturday.
Under the calculation method given in Decree 69, property enterprises have to buy land twice: in the form of site clearance compensation and land use fee payment, said Pham Dinh Cuong, director of the Department of Public Asset Management.
HoREA proposed the State allow deduction of all costs spent on compensation for site clearance, or consider this cost as a tax with a fixed rate of 10-15% of the land price. This will ensure transparency and make it easy for enterprises to calculate the cost of development.
Cuong agreed with the proposal, saying that it was reasonable to calculate land use fee on a percentage basis.
At the seminar, HoREA revealed data on real estate inventory and property-related bad debts in HCMC. In particular, unsold property products in the city are reported to have reached about VND30 trillion, while outstanding loans for the realty sector make up some VND66 trillion of the total amount of VND85 trillion, including VND4 trillion of bad debt.
Speaking at the seminar, Minister of Finance Vuong Dinh Hue requested these figures to be reviewed. If inventory amounted to VND30 trillion, he wondered where the remaining sum had gone, exclusive of equity capital of enterprises.
However, the minister admitted the real estate market was currently very bleak, causing troubles for other sectors such as building materials, finance-banking and even the labor market.
Therefore, solving difficulties for the real estate market is not only for the sake of property firms, but also for the common good, contributing to the socio-economic development, he said.
The Government is seeking solutions for the difficulties of the economy and thus the problems of the real estate market will be soon settled, he added.
