The Social Housing Struggle
Red tape strikes again
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Something I’m keeping an eye on this week is the shocking story out of Dak Lak Province in which a group of armed men attacked multiple police headquarters on Sunday morning. Officials have arrested 22 assailants thus far while saying the assaults resulted in “several” deaths. Some areas are under military lockdown as soldiers search for more members of this group.
On to the news.
It is common knowledge at this stage that Vietnam’s property sector is in crisis, a topic covered here several times in recent months.
A combination of tightened access to credit, overbuilding, stringent legal processes, low demand, and criminal investigations of several prominent developers have hammered the industry.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that over 1,200 real estate projects valued at over US$34 billion are suspended, with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City accounting for several hundred projects each.
The impact of this freeze is impossible to miss in recent data on property sales and developer business performance.