Real estate floors to go under microscope

The Ministry of Construction (MoC) in co-operation with city and provincial authorities will inspect all real estate trading floors to make sure trading and brokerage operations are in good order, Pham Gia Yen, chief ministry inspector, has said.

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam said drastic action was necessary because of a recent series of violations involving real estate trading and brokerage activities.

In the first half of the year, the ministry inspected 128 real estate trading floors in Ha Noi and HCM City.

It found many violations in the setting up of the trading floors and their operations. Several floors were found not to have enough staff equipped with certificates of property brokerage and appraisal.

Some housing developers distorted the amounts of capital they had to carry out projects.

The ministry also found several cases of speculation on low-income apartments, loans with exorbitant interest rates and customers defrauded of their properties.

It will impose total fines of VND1.62 billion (US$78,640) on 20 violations.

However, experts said that the punishment was too light because the benefits from illegal activities were huge. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Property market, Vietnam property sector, vietnam real estate market