Hanoi, Sep 11 (IANS): Housing credit in Vietnam's southern hub Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City has been on the rise as the property market finds its footing and path to recovery, Vietnam News agency cited the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) as reporting on Wednesday.

According to the SBV branch in HCM City, as of the end of July, the city's total outstanding credit for the property market has reached over 1 trillion Vietnamese dong (40 million U.S. dollars).

Housing credit, including social housing, commercial housing and several other categories, accounted for a significant portion, at 57 per cent of the property market's outstanding credit.

Social housing credit reached 2.54 trillion dong, an increase of 78 per cent since the beginning of this year, said the report, Xinhua news agency reported.

Nguyen Duc Lenh, Deputy Director of the SBV Branch in HCM City, said a sharp rise in credit could be attributed to the financial system's efforts to speed up the disbursement of social housing credit.