Opportunity to buy houses in the country for Vietnamese people abroad, Hanoi apartment prices only increase, not decrease

The high-end apartment segment dominates, Thanh Hoa finalizes the price of "golden land" area, cases of repossession and forced repossession of public property housing... are the latest real estate news.

The Law on Real Estate Business has many new contents, which will have a strong impact on the market in the coming time. (Source: XD Newspaper)

Overseas Vietnamese have the opportunity to buy houses in the country.

The amended Law on Real Estate Business was officially passed at the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly and will officially take effect from January 1, 2025.

Experts say that the Law on Real Estate Business has many new contents, which will strongly impact the market in the coming time. One of the new points noted is the removal of discrimination against overseas Vietnamese when buying real estate in the country.

The amended Law on Real Estate Business stipulates that Vietnamese people residing abroad who are Vietnamese citizens (still holding Vietnamese nationality) have the same rights and obligations regarding land as Vietnamese citizens in the country. People of Vietnamese origin residing abroad (no longer holding Vietnamese nationality) are subject to current policies.

Legal expert - Real estate Nguyen Van Dinh commented that this regulation is in line with the draft Land Law (amended). Accordingly, Vietnamese people residing abroad who still retain their nationality have the right to do real estate business, to buy, rent, or hire-purchase houses and construction works like Vietnamese citizens in the country.

This will make it easier for Vietnamese people living abroad to own real estate in the country, contributing to the development of the real estate market and creating more demand, Mr. Dinh analyzed.

Previously, to buy real estate in the country, many overseas Vietnamese had to ask relatives to stand in their names, leading to consequences such as lawsuits and disputes due to lack of transparency in the law. This amendment to the Law on Real Estate Business has created equality between domestic people and overseas Vietnamese in buying real estate.

Lawyer Le Minh Phieu, Director of LMP Law Firm, said that he had previously advised many overseas Vietnamese to return to Vietnam to buy real estate, but they had to transfer the contract and could not have their names on the pink book. Those barriers and difficulties stemmed from many issues, especially legal ones.

According to Mr. Peter Hong, a Vietnamese Canadian, Permanent Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Abroad: "If this can be done, real estate can be rescued with remittance capital when in 2023, it is expected that there will be about 19.2 billion USD of overseas Vietnamese capital returning to Vietnam."

Many of these people also share the same opinion, they have worked abroad for decades, deposited money in banks without interest, even had to pay fees, so they want to return to Vietnam to invest, buy real estate and consider it as an asset for the next generation. Therefore, the new point in the Law on Real Estate Business that has just been passed will contribute to encouraging and attracting this capital flow.

High-end apartment segment dominates, price continues to increase

According to the Hanoi apartment market in the third quarter, the Ministry of Construction said that the average selling price of apartments opened for sale in the primary market increased by nearly 7% quarter-on-quarter, 14% year-on-year and reached about VND50.8 million/m2.

The Ministry of Construction assessed that the price adjustment has been on an upward trend due to the overwhelming proportion of new supply in the high-end segment (over 90%). Along with that, some investors have adjusted prices upward and opened for sale additional inventory on higher floors.

In the secondary market, the average apartment selling price maintained its upward trend from the previous quarter, reaching about VND32 million/m2, up 2.7% quarter-on-quarter and 0.8% year-on-year.

All districts in Hanoi recorded secondary selling prices in the third quarter increasing compared to the second quarter, in which Dong Da, Thanh Xuan, Tay Ho, Nam Tu Liem and Gia Lam districts increased by over 3%.

Mr. Phuc Anh, Director of a real estate trading floor in Ha Dong (Hanoi), said that apartment prices are continuously increasing despite the difficult real estate market. Due to limited supply while real demand is increasing, apartment prices, despite increasing, will continue to increase in the near future.

“In the future, primary apartments will also record high prices because investors have to optimize profits when all costs are pushed up. Buying apartments is becoming more and more difficult when there are still very few new projects and people's income is limited, the increase in income cannot keep up with the increase in housing prices,” said Mr. Phuc Anh.

According to Mr. Anh, at this time, besides the convenience factors, buyers are more interested in price and payment policy. Therefore, projects with reduced prices and good payment policies will sell quickly. However, many home buyers have not yet taken out a loan to buy because they are still concerned about interest rates.

The "golden land" area in Thanh Hoa has a starting price of over 451 billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thi, Permanent Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, signed a decision approving the starting price for the auction of land use rights for commercial and service land in the Southern Urban Area of Thanh Hoa city, in Quang Thanh ward.

The auctioned land area has an area of nearly 105,000m2, Thanh Hoa City People's Committee has organized land recovery, approved compensation plan, supported site clearance and completed compensation and support site clearance.

The land is leased by the state for a period of 50 years, with rent collected once. The purpose of use is commercial service land.

Regarding technical infrastructure, the auctioned land has one side adjacent to Hung Vuong Avenue (North-South Avenue) and one side adjacent to the completed Eastern route, ensuring that the auction winner can carry out investment and construction.

In order to minimize and limit the impact of damage to technical infrastructure, some roads next to the auctioned land are being assigned to the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa city to be responsible for construction, connection, and implementation in parallel with the construction of works in the auctioned land.

The starting price for the auction is over 451 billion VND. This starting price is determined under the condition that the auction winner must invest in the synchronous and complete construction of technical infrastructure and works on the land according to the planning approved by the competent authority, and fully perform the obligations specified in the land use rights auction plan.

The starting price for auction is valid for 6 months from the date of approval and is determined for the purpose and land use criteria as prescribed.

Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee assigns the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, departments, branches and units that are members of the Land Valuation Council to take full responsibility before the law.

Thanh Hoa City People's Committee is responsible for implementing the next steps to auction the above land use rights, ensuring compliance with regulations.

Cases of repossession and forced repossession of public property houses

Article 127 of the amended Housing Law clearly stipulates cases of repossession and forced repossession of public property housing.

Accordingly, the recovery of public property housing is carried out in one of the following cases:

Leasing, hire-purchasing, or selling housing without proper authority or to the wrong subject or without meeting the conditions prescribed by the law on housing.

The lease term expires when the tenant no longer wishes to continue renting or when both parties agree to terminate the housing lease contract.

The lessee or hire-purchaser returns the rented or hire-purchased house.

The tenant is no longer eligible to rent housing under the provisions of this Law.

The lessee dies or is declared missing by the Court without anyone living with him/her; the person renting the official residence dies or is declared missing by the Court.

The lessee or lessee-purchaser of a house fails to pay the full rent according to the contract for 03 months or more without a valid reason.

Houses for rent or hire-purchase that must be demolished for renovation or reconstruction according to the decision of a competent State agency; houses that are not safe to use according to the provisions of the law on construction.

The lessee or hire-purchaser uses the house for purposes other than those agreed upon in the house lease or hire-purchase contract, or arbitrarily converts, sells, sub-leases, lends the house, or arbitrarily breaks down, expands, renovates, or demolishes the rented or hire-purchased house.

Tenants of public housing are mobilized, rotated, or seconded to work in other localities.

Illegal occupation of housing.

People who are renting, renting-purchasing, purchasing houses or people who are using houses that are subject to repossession under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 127 of the amended Housing Law must hand over the houses to the unit assigned to manage the houses; in case the houses are not handed over, the representative of the owner of the houses belonging to public property shall decide on compulsory repossession. The provincial People's Committee shall be responsible for organizing the compulsory repossession of houses or assigning the district People's Committee where the houses are located to carry out the compulsory repossession of houses within 30 days from the date the decision on compulsory repossession is issued.

After repossessing a house, based on each specific case, the competent authority shall carry out the conversion of function or continue to manage, arrange for lease, hire-purchase, or sale in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

The Government shall detail the procedures for repossessing and enforcing the repossession of public housing.

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