Suburban Land Auctions in Hanoi See “Shocking” Winning Prices

Recently, the Vietnam Auction Company announced the temporary suspension of the auction for the right to use 57 land plots in the Dam area, Muc Xa village, Cao Duong commune, Thanh Oai district (phase 1).

Truong Son Joint Stock Auction Company also announced the temporary suspension of the auction for the same 57 land plots on August 7.

The reason for the suspension was the re-determination of the starting price for auctioning land use rights for 114 plots of land in Cao Duong commune by the People’s Committee of Thanh Oai district, as per Decision No. 46 dated July 18 of the People’s Committee of Hanoi City.

However, on August 16, the Vietnam Auction Joint Stock Company announced that it would re-organize the auction, scheduled for the morning of September 8. The land plots, ranging from 74.63 – 134.69 m2, have a starting price of 8.8 million VND/m2, equivalent to 660 million VND to nearly 1.2 billion VND/plot.

Following recent auctions showing signs of “heat”, the Hanoi People’s Committee issued a document on inspection, detection, and handling of violations of the law related to the unusually high auction results of land use rights in the city.

Unusually high winning bids can have a significant impact on socio-economic development, investment and business environment, housing, and real estate markets.

Recently, in the city, there has been a phenomenon of land use rights auctions with winning prices many times higher than the starting price. For instance, in Thanh Oai district, the winning price was 7-8 times higher, and in Hoai Duc district, the highest price was 18 times higher.

The Hanoi People’s Committee stated that the unusually high winning bid can affect socio-economic development, investment and business environment, housing, and real estate markets.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has established an Inspection Team to review the documents, clarify the basis for conducting land auctions, determine the starting price and auction plan. The team will determine whether or not there were violations in organizing land auctions in Thanh Oai and Hoai Duc districts last August.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Minh Ngan stated that there is currently no conclusion on whether there are any loopholes or violations in the auction process in Thanh Oai and Hoai Duc. The Ministry is continuing to review, and if violations are discovered, it will advise competent authorities on a handling plan.