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Few homebuyers seek loans, waiting for more rate cuts
Despite the recent steady lending rate cuts in the banking system, most local homebuyers have still found housing loans out of reach in the last three months as the interest rate in general is still high.
An executive of an HCMC-based branch of BIDV unveiled that his branch had given housing loans to homebuyers of eight projects from the lending package of 4 trillion dong his bank had set aside for the realty industry. The branch has disbursed loans to customers of the An Tien and Phu Hoang Anh projects of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group since May at annual lending rates fluctuating in the 12-14% range.
In fact, there are few lenders offering credit packages to the property market and the lending rates of the whole banking system are still higher than the levels quoted at BIDV. As a result, the number of housing loan customers at other banks has still remained low.
Now lending rates of housing loans average out at 15-18% per annum at local lenders, a mild contraction from the previous times but still 7-10 percentage points higher than the present deposit rates.
ACB deputy general director Nguyen Thanh Toai said that lending activities for property schemes at his bank are quiet regardless of the presence of preferential products for borrowers. Demands for housing loans at ACB are small though the bank has cut its lending rates by about 1.5-2 percentage points since May.
Toai ascribed the poor housing loan demand to the fact that homebuyers are keeping a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude, expecting the home price to go down further. In addition, homebuyers are expecting further lending rate cuts in line with falling deposit rates as regulated by the central bank.
At an OCB branch, a credit staff said his bank is offering housing loans at an annual lending rate of 16% but the number of loan applications from those wanting to buy homes is still insignificant.
Explaining the situation at lenders, deputy general director of Hung Thinh Land Nguyen Duy Minh said the housing market is still in the recovery process. On top of that, it is difficult for homebuyers to take out bank loans due to stringent requirements from banks, Minh stressed.
Echoing Minh’s view, director Huynh Kim Loan of Eden Real Co. also noticed many people showed interest in lowered lending rates but they have found it impossible to access bank loans with their meager monthly incomes.
* The Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) on Wednesday announced a financial package of 5 trillion dong targeting homebuyers at an annual lending rate of 12%, among the lowest levels in the banking system now.
The lending package, themed ‘5 trillion dong Support for Dreamed Homes’, is available until the end of the year. It is arranged for Vietnamese individuals in need of housing loans to have residential land use right transfer or to buy homes, VietinBank said in a statement.
Under the lending program, the bank will provide a maximum 70% of credit demand of homebuyers, and the biggest loan can amount up to 25 billion dong.
For short-term loans, VietinBank will offer soft rates for a maximum duration of three months. Meanwhile, medium and long-term borrowers will enjoy preferential lending rates for two months each year, with the longest duration for low rate application of one credit contract being six months.
Also, the lender said it will simplify lending procedures and conditions in a bid to help clients take out bank loans in the easiest way.
VietinBank clients are only required to have stable incomes and submit lending purposes and collateral to get loans from the bank.
The Saigon Times
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