Under Resolution No. 66.11/2026, effective from January 6, 2026 to February 28, 2027, the deposit required to participate in auctions of residential land-use rights for individuals will be raised to a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 50% of the starting price, compared with the previous range of 5% to 20%.

A plot of land being auctioned in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of the former Thanh Tri district's administration.

The resolution also introduces stricter penalties for violations. Individuals who win land auctions but fail to pay the full winning amount, leading to the cancellation of auction results, may be banned from participating in future land auctions for periods ranging from six months to up to five years, depending on the severity of the breach.

Specifically, bidders who do not pay the winning amount at all can be barred from auctions for two to five years, while those who fail to pay in full face bans of between six months and three years.

The new rules are intended to address long-standing disruptions in land auctions conducted under the Land Law.

Authorities said the higher deposit requirement is designed to deter bidders from submitting unrealistically high offers to manipulate prices and then forfeiting their deposits, a practice that has distorted land markets in several localities.

Under the resolution, the authority that approves the auction results will also have the power to decide on auction bans. Within 10 days of issuing a decision to cancel auction results, the competent authority must review and issue a decision on whether to prohibit the offending bidder from future auctions. Details of such bans must be published on the National Auction Portal in accordance with existing regulations.

‘Sky-high bids’ and walkaways

The move follows a series of controversial land auctions across Vietnam in recent years, particularly in Hanoi’s suburban districts like Ha Dong, Thanh Oai, Hoai Duc, Thuong Tin, and Soc Son, where winning bids soared to many times the starting prices, sparking public concern over speculation and price manipulation.

In the second half of 2024, auctions in areas such as Ha Dong, Thanh Oai, Hoai Duc, Thuong Tin, and Soc Son attracted unusually large numbers of participants, with bidding sessions stretching for hours and prices rising to levels far above market fundamentals.

Authorities have identified cases where participants deliberately bid aggressively and then walked away from their deposits, or even completed payments to legitimize inflated auction prices, with the aim of creating artificial benchmarks to drive up prices of nearby land plots for profit.

One of the most striking cases occurred in late December 2024 in Quang Tien commune, formerly part of Soc Son district, where a group of bidders orchestrated what officials described as an “unrealistic” auction, pushing residential land prices to as high as VND30 billion ($1.14 million) per square metre in a rural area on the outskirts of Hanoi.

According to investigators, the group surveyed the site, coordinated bidding strategies and agreed on pre-set price ceilings. They followed a staged bidding process over several rounds, only to submit abnormally high bids in later rounds to derail the auction, forcing a re-auction without losing their deposits and allowing them to re-enter the process.

The government said the new measures are aimed at restoring order and transparency to land auctions, protecting genuine buyers and preventing the creation of artificial price bubbles in the real estate market.