HCMC – Foreign nationals have purchased some 16,000 houses in Vietnam over the past five years, representing 2% of the total houses, with 81% of those sold being in HCMC, according to statistics from the HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA).

A document recently sent to the competent agencies by HoREA highlighted that in the 2015-2020 period, the homes were sold to foreigners by 17 major real estate firms, while a total of 12,335 houses and apartments were sold to foreign individuals and organizations. If houses and apartments owned by the 17 major property firms sold to foreigners account for 70%-80% of the total, the number of houses bought by foreigners from 2015 to 2020 would be an estimated 14,800-16,000. Meanwhile, a report on the real estate market from 2009 to 2019 by the Ministry of Construction indicated that as many as 5,000 housing projects with over 3.7 million houses were developed during the 10-year period. As such, the 16,000 houses sold to foreigners over the past five years is a trivial figure. The demand from foreigners to buy houses in the country over the past five years has been low, said HoREA, adding that a few high-end residential areas and apartment buildings with fully-equipped facilities, high security and convenient traffic systems are attracting foreign home buyers. Besides this, housing project owners are strictly complying with the regulation on the cap of 30% on the number of apartments in one project sold to foreigners. The policy allowing foreigners to own houses and apartments in Vietnam has brought some positive movement to the local real estate market, according to HoREA. As a result, the association proposed that the competent agencies keep the foreign home ownership cap at one apartment building unchanged at 30% and assign provincial governments to decide the number of foreign home buyers in the wards of provinces to ensure the economic development of each locality. Apart from this, the association also proposed not permitting foreigners to buy and own condotel units during this time.

By Viet Dung