Chinese real estate service firm E-House has proposed the government of HCMC allow foreigners including those from China to own homes in the city for 99-100 years, instead of 50 years as at present, reports Thanh Nien newspaper.

E-House looks to make billions of U.S. dollars in revenue from real estate projects in HCMC  in the next three years. 

Nguyen Thanh Trung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCMC, met on April 24 with the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference led by Zhou Hanmin, vice chairman of the committee. The two discussed education, culture, sports and investment, among others.

Regarding E-House’s proposal for adjusting up the house ownership of foreigners to 99-100 years, Le Thi Huynh Mai, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment, said the Vietnamese Law on Housing allows foreign expats to own houses and invest in projects in Vietnam for a maximum of 50 years.

Vietnam may allow foreign firms to implement projects with a life span of more than 50 years if these projects are extremely important to national development, said Mai, but only the Prime Minister has the authority to decide on this matter.

E-House CEO Ding Zuyu said at the meeting that the company was planning to invest in property projects and open a subsidiary in HCMC. E-House are currently involved in some housing development projects in the city and will put up them for sale in the future, Ding said.

E-House looks to make billions of U.S. dollars in revenue from real estate projects in the city in the next three years. It will employ local people and send Chinese staff to the city for work.

Ding suggested relaxing the requirements for visa application and extension for the Chinese living and working in HCMC.

Mai of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment said Chinese investors have pledged US$154 million in 202 projects in the city, making China the 20th biggest investor of HCMC. Chinese firms are active in transport and construction projects.

However, Chinese firms’ projects are small. The biggest one costs only US$30 million.

SGT