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Property rules eased for overseas Vietnamese
More overseas Vietnamese will be able to buy homes in Vietnam from September, under a new law passed by the National Assembly on Thursday.
The law, passed with some amendments, will allow overseas Vietnamese, or Viet Kieu, to buy houses or apartments in Vietnam from September 1 this year.
Under the new law, Viet Kieu who hold Vietnamese citizenship, have investments in Vietnam or are scientists working in Vietnam will be able to own more than one house or apartment in Vietnam.
Overseas Vietnamese who are married to Vietnamese citizens and reside in Vietnam can also purchase an unlimited number of residential properties.
Viet Kieu who fall outside these categories but who have a valid visa allowing them to stay in Vietnam for at least three months will be able to purchase a house or an apartment.
The amendments inserted by the National Assembly were designed to discourage overseas Vietnamese from buying investment properties or speculating in real estate.
One National Assembly deputy warned that any properties traded in Vietnam, by Viet Kieu or Vietnamese citizens, will be subject to personal and property taxes.
With more than three million people of Vietnamese descent living outside Vietnam, the government estimates that Viet Kieu will buy about 1,400 houses and apartments in Vietnam every year under the new law.
Overseas Vietnamese have bought only 140 houses in Vietnam over the past three years, since the current law was introduced on a trial basis.
Under the Vietnamese constitution, the nation’s land, forests, rivers, lakes, wealth under the ground, in the sea, on the continental shelf and in the air belong to the state and are therefore owned by the entire people.
Individuals cannot directly own plots of land but are able to purchase land-use rights.
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