Homebuyers explore apartment projects in HCM City as banks’ lending to the property sector continues wherever there is genuine housing demand. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — In Region 2, which comprises HCM City and Đồng Nai Province, outstanding loans to the property sector accounted for 27.5 per cent of total bank lending at the end of the first quarter, up 2.34 percentage points compared to the end of 2025.

In HCM City, the figure stood at 28.61 per cent, marking a similar rate of increase, while in Đồng Nai it reached 17.61 per cent.

According to Lê Thị Thi, head of the general affairs division at the State Bank of Vietnam’s Region 2 branch, the figures indicate that real estate lending has continued to expand steadily, helping support related industries, while credit flows remain focused on genuine housing demand.

Since 2026, loans to people purchasing homes for residential use have consistently accounted for 66 per cent of total outstanding real estate loans.

Referring to the VNĐ145 trillion (US$5.7 billion) credit package for Region 2, she said nine lenders, Agribank, Vietcombank, VietinBank, BIDV, TPBank, Techcombank, VPBank, MB, and HDBank, are participating in the programme.

The central bank has cut interest rates seven times since the programme began, from 8.7 per cent for developers and 8.2 per cent for homebuyers at the start to 6.1 per cent and 5.6 per cent now.

Developers of seven projects have so far received over VNĐ923 billion ($36.2 million), with their outstanding loans currently exceeding VNĐ841 billion ($33 million).

In HCM City, four projects have received more than VNĐ504 billion ($19.8 million) in cumulative disbursements from a total credit limit of VNĐ1.207 trillion ($47.4 million).

Outstanding loans for the projects exceeded VNĐ423 billion ($16.6 million).

Three other projects previously approved by the city People’s Committee have secured loans from banks outside the programme, with interest rates ranging from 7.9 per cent to 8.5 per cent.

Another project received funding from the former Bình Dương Province Development Investment Fund. The province merged with HCM City last year.

In Đồng Nai, three projects have received disbursements under the package.

In the case of individual borrowers, 176 have so far got mortgages under the programme, with total disbursements exceeding VNĐ115 billion ($4.5 million).

Banks in Region 2 have also extended social housing loans to other localities including Tây Ninh, Đồng Tháp, and An Giang, with total disbursements to developers in the three provinces surpassing VNĐ723 billion ($28.4 million).

Thi said the VNĐ145 trillion package did not use Government funding and instead relied on participating banks using their own resources.

The State Bank of Vietnam also allows loans under the programme to be excluded from annual credit quotas by participating banks. — VNS