The government issued a resolution on 6/1 to address issues concerning land use rights auctions for residential land allocation under the Land Law. The resolution outlines mechanisms to prevent profiteering and violations, including the abandonment of land auction deposits.

According to the resolution, when auctioning land use rights for residential land to individuals, the advance deposit will be a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 50% of the starting price. This is higher than the current 5-20% required by the Law on Property Auctions. Increasing the advance deposit for land use rights auctions aims to deter bidders from making excessively high bids for speculative purposes and then abandoning their deposits.

Furthermore, successful bidders who fail to make payments, leading to the cancellation of their results, will be banned from participating in auctions for two to five years. Those who do not pay the full winning amount will face a ban of six months to three years. The competent authority will issue this ban within 10 days after the auction results are canceled.

This resolution is effective until 28/2/2027.

Investors participate in a land auction in Hoai Duc district (formerly), Hanoi, in 8/2024. Photo: Anh Tu

From late 2024 to mid-last year, land prices continuously rose, initially concentrated in the outskirts of Hanoi, then spreading to surrounding provinces. Winning bids repeatedly set new records, with many land plots exceeding 100 million dong per square meter. Many groups and brokers also participated, immediately advertising lots for hundreds of millions of dong more after auctions concluded.

For example, in the former Ha Dong district, 22 out of 27 land plots successfully auctioned on 19/10/2024 remained unpaid by the payment deadline (mid-3/2025). This revealed many irregularities and disrupted the market.

Phuong Dung