Foreigners are not permitted to own more than 30 percent of the totalunits of a building in Vietnam, according to a draft decree compiled bythe Ministry of Construction (MOC) to guide the enforcement of therevised Housing Law, which will take effect on July 1 this year.

The Housing Law 2015 states that foreigners granted Vietnam visas areallowed to buy property in the country, as are foreign investment fundsand banks as well as Vietnamese branches and representative offices ofoverseas companies, as long as such property is in commercial housingdevelopments and not in areas that limit or ban foreigners’ access.

Forinvestment projects with separate houses for sale or lease, foreignorganisations and individuals may only own not more than 10 percent ofthe total number of units within any given administrative area.

Inorder to own a property in Vietnam, a foreigner must have a validpassport and not be entitled to privileges or diplomatic exemptionsunder the provisions of the Ordinance on privileges and immunities fordiplomatic representative offices, foreign consulates and representativeoffices of international organizations in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, a foreign organisation should be among the entities asstipulated in the law’s Article 159 and has an investment certificationor operation licences valid at the time of the housing transaction.

The Defence Ministry and Public Security Ministry will be responsiblefor designating areas that limit or ban foreigners’ access in provincesand cities. Municipal and provincial Construction Departments areresponsible for announcing lists of housing projects off limits forforeigners on their electronic portal, as well as the number of housingunits already sold to foreigners in each housing projects under theirmanagement.-VNA