Is the real estate market warming up? There is no reliable answer to the question about whether the real estate market has warmed up, because different information sources show different situations.   Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam has discovered interesting things in the reports the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MIA) presented before the National Assembly and the answers of Trinh Dinh Dung, Minister of Construction, to the inquiries. MIA’s report on the implementation of the National Assembly’s resolution on the enlargement of Hanoi showed many problems existing, including the frozen real estate market, highlighting that this was a big problem of the capital city’s economy after seven years of expansion. Meanwhile Minister Dung on November 19, answering the National Assembly’s questions, said the real estate market has ‘improved’ and ‘recovered strongly’, thus making great contribution to the economic development and the settlement of social issues. Huynh Van Tiep, a National Assembly’s Deputy from Can Tho province, commented that Dung said the real estate market ‘was recovering strongly’ because the property market is under his control and the market’s performance shows the Ministry of Construction quality of works. Tiep said he had several fact-finding trips to Hanoi and HCM City real estate markets and found that many licensed projects could not be implemented, while problems have not been solved. “About 4,100 projects in Hanoi have become operational, but the efficiency is described as ‘low’. How can the projects ‘contribute to economic development’?” he said. Tiep went on to say that it is not a surprise at all when ministries try to ‘beautify’ reports to show off their achievements. The Ministry of Interior Affairs, for example, has released a report saying that 99 percent of civil servants fulfill their tasks, a figure which everyone would say is ‘unbelievable’. “Banks’ bad debts mostly are in loans to real estate projects. Meanwhile, apartments and houses remain unsold. How can we say the real estate market has warmed up?” he said. Nguyen Tan Tuan, another National Assembly’s Deputy, also thinks that the Hanoi and HCM City markets are still in deadlock with apartments staying unsold because of the high prices. The VND30 trillion bailout launched by the government to rescue the real estate market has helped defrost many local markets. However, it was very difficult to disburse funds in the two large cities of Hanoi and HCM City. In early September, the Ministry of Construction released a report, saying that the inventory volume in the real estate market had decreased gradually. Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Duc, deputy chair of the HCM City Real Estate Association, had doubts about the report, saying that 700 projects in the city still had ‘big difficulties’. Dat Viet