A land plot for sale in Bình Dương Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Land plot prices in HCM City and neighbouring provinces such as Bình Dương, Đồng Nai and Long An decreased by 10-25 per cent compared to early this year due to the central bank’s tight monetary policy for real estate lending.

Many investors borrowed money to invest in property in previous years, hoping to make profits, but instead suffered losses as tightened credit drove up interest rates and hit liquidity.

In 2021, Trần Văn Năm from HCM City bought a land plot for VNĐ5 billion (US$208,000) in the southern province of Đồng Nai, hoping to resell it within a year for a profit of hundreds of millions of đồng.

But in late 2022, when bank interest rates went up, he had to sell it for a loss of over VNĐ800 million.

At that time, many brokers told him that land plot prices had kept increasing from 2016 to 2021 and it will keep increasing in coming years, and so he bought the land plot hoping for a profit. But he was shocked that he was forced to sell it at a loss, Năm said.

Like Năm, Nguyễn Thị Huệ, an investor in Bình Dương Province, said that in 2021, she decided to use her savings and borrowed money from bank to buy a 2,000 square metre land plot in Long An Province for VNĐ10 billion ($416,000).

Some months later, many brokers contacted her and asked if she wanted to sell the land plot at VNĐ12 billion.

But Huệ did not do so because she believed that land price would increase further in the future.

However, this year, contrary to her prediction, land prices have fallen sharply, while interest rates have increased from 9 per cent to over 15 per cent. Huệ is nervous as she cannot sell the land to pay debts.

Now, she is calling to sell her land for only VNĐ8 billion, but she still cannot find buyers.

Many investors in land have suffered similar losses.

Loan interest rates increased sharply, raising the costs of many investors who borrow money to buy land. They are then willing to accept a 10-20 per cent loss to sell as soon as possible. This leads to lower land prices, experts said.

Land in Long An, Bình Dương and Đồng Nai provinces could see prices fall by 10-15 per cent in the next 12 months, and in farther localities such as Tây Ninh and Đắk Nông, the decline could be more than 20 per cent, experts added.

The real estate market has cooled down for the last eight months, especially in the third and fourth quarters of 2022. Investors using financial leverage are most vulnerable to low liquidity, rising interest rates and credit control, especially when these appear at the same time.

Lương Đình Thúy Vân, CEO of investment consultancy Mogin Holdings, said most short-term investors, who hope of getting a huge profit in six to 12 months, racked up losses in 2022.

She sounded a warning: "The property market will not be favourable to cash-strapped investors in 2023 either." — VNS