VietNamNet Bridge - The 2014 Housing Law, which allows foreigners to own houses in Vietnam, has prompted real estate developers to introduce their projects overseas.

The developer of Estella Heights apartment project in district 2, HCM City, for example, has organized a roadshow to introduce the project in Singapore. The owner of The Nassim in district 2 has introduced the project to potential buyers in Hong Kong. 

Tan Hoang Minh Group in March launched a marketing campaign for D’. Le Roi Soleil,  high-end apartments in Hanoi, to Singaporean investors. Seafront resort developers such as Sun Group have offered villas in Da Nang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc Island to foreign investors.

The 2014 Housing Law, which allows foreigners to own houses in Vietnam, has prompted real estate developers to introduce their projects overseas.

Large real estate consultancy firms such as CBRE and Savills have also organized a series of workshops in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong to introduce the potential of the Vietnamese real estate market.

The costly marketing campaigns have brought positive effects. The Nassim developer said the number of apartments ordered by foreigners has hit the ‘ceiling’ (Under the 2014 Housing Law, no more than 30 percent of products within one project can be sold to foreigners). 

Meanwhile, Estella Heights developer said 54 apartments were sold at the roadshow in Singapore.

The number of foreigners at Nam Phuc Le Jardin project in district 7 accounts for nearly 30 percent, according to the investor. 

According to Phuc Khanh Company, Singaporean investment fund Genesis Global Capital has committed to buy 30 percent of apartments at Diamond Lotus in district 8. 

Novaland has also reported an increasingly high number of foreign clients who have shown interest in Vietnamese properties.

According to the HCM City Real Estate Association, 700 foreigners bought high-end apartments in the first quarter of the year. The figure showed considerable improvement in sales if noting that in the entire year of 2015, only 1,000 foreigners bought houses in the city.

Which markets are Vietnamese real estate developers targeting? The answer is, according to Troy Griffiths, deputy CEO of Savills Vietnam, the countries which have benefits associated with their foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Vietnam, such as South Korea and Japan. 

In addition, investors from Taiwan and Singapore, who believe they can seek attractive profits in Vietnam compared with their home markets. 

According to Savills Vietnam, the rate of return in other regional markets are relatively low, below one percent at times, while the figure is high, about 5 percent, in Vietnam. The developers of seafront resorts can even expect profit of 9-10 percent.

According to CBRE Vietnam, mid- and high-end real estate in Vietnam is still much cheaper than in Singapore. A 3-bedroom apartment in Singapore is $500,000-840,000, while it can be bought for $300,000-400,000 in Vietnam.


Kim Chi