The Vietnam Real Estate Association (VNREA) has also sent a document to the National Assembly, asking to amend Article 14 of the Real Estate Business Law to allow foreigners to buy non-housing real estate products.

The association believes this would help attract huge investment to the real estate market segment.

VNREA’s deputy chair Doan Van Binh said he hopes the open policies on foreign ownership will be applied soon as a measure to urgently help revive the real estate market which has suffered during COVID-19.

In the long term, he said, this would be a good solution for Vietnam to become a destination for vacation, retirement and real estate investment for foreigners.

Since the amended Housing Law took effect on July 1, 2015, 549 certificates for land-use rights and ownership of houses and other properties built on land (red book) have been granted to foreign institutions and individuals.

According to Huynh Tan Vinh, CEO of Furama Resort, many other countries allow foreigners to buy tourism properties, which is one solution to attract investment in the business field.

"Ownership doesn’t mean that foreigners will live there. They spend money to buy condotels that will be managed by Vietnamese businesses, while profits will be shared as per agreements. Every year, the owners will have a short stay at their condotels,” Vinh explained.

Vinh believes that there is no need to worry about national defence and security problems, urging agencies to approve the suggested policy soon.

“I believe that many foreign investors have interest in Vietnam’s tourism real estate,” Vinh said.

In recent years, Hanoi and HCM City have attracted many foreign investors, but mostly to housing projects, not to resort real estate. Local authorities say they are still confused about granting certificates on resort real estate project ownership. This is one of the reasons to block invetsors’ opportunities.

According to the Khanh Hoa provincial Real Estate Brokers’ Association, there are 30 condotel projects in the province, including 17 with 15,000 rooms in Nha Trang City.

Tran Nam Binh, deputy director of the Khanh Hoa Construction Department, said the current laws allow foreigners to buy houses in projects in certain amounts, but with many conditions.

Regarding the projects in Nha Trang, investors and local authorities have repeatedly asked the police and national defence agencies about the sale of products to foreigners, but there has been no answer. The developers of the projects, especially condotels, still cannot sell to foreigners.

According to MOC, since the amended Housing Law took effect on July 1, 2015, 549 certificates for land-use rights and ownership of houses and other properties built on land (red book) have been granted to foreign institutions and individuals.

Kim Chi 

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