Photo: Anh Nguyen

Yesterday, with 87.02% of deputies voting in favor of the changes, the National Assembly passed the amendments about the Article 126 of the Housing Law and the Article 121 of the Land Law. Accordingly, there will have more overseas Vietnamese allowed to own houses in Vietnam from September 1st, 2009.

In comparison with the current rule, these Articles 126 and 121 together specify 3 groups of overseas Vietnamese allowed to own properties in Vietnam. It includes: “those with their Vietnamese citizenship”, “those of Vietnamese origins with special skills” and “those having a Vietnamese spouse currently living here”. Under this new rule, those who still get their Vietnamese citizenship are allowed to reside in Vietnam for three months or more (themselves and their families). Those of Vietnamese origins who made direct investments; those recognized as contributing to the national development; the scientists; the cultural experts; those with special skills who had been invited to work in Vietnam; and those married to citizens living in Vietnam are all allowed to reside in Vietnam three months or more, and they can own houses. Those with only Vietnamese origins aren’t included in the above group. The conditions to own a separate house or apartment are: get a Vietnamese visa exemption as well as the permission to reside three months or more in Vietnam.

Therefore, overseas Vietnamese who still get Vietnamese citizenship can own several houses at that same time. A report from the Standing Committee of the National Assembly asserted that: “According to the principles, it’s necessary to distinguish the home ownership between the different groups, especially between those living abroad and those living in Vietnam”. The report added: “If an investor, who invested in some projects in Hanoi and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, has a demand for housing, he can buy and own houses in both localities”. Similarly, if a scientist working for Science Bodies in HCM City and Da Nang has a housing demand, he can also own houses in both localities. According to the report form the Government, up to 70 percent of the total three million overseas Vietnamese also hold the Vietnamese citizenship.

Following the draft amendments of the Article 126 of the Housing Law and the Article 121 of the Land Law presented by the Government in the early session (DiaOcOnline has previously had a report about it), the National Assembly decided to expand the rights of overseas Vietnamese to own houses: about their land-use rights in Vietnam, they would receive the standard compensation if the State decides to acquire their land, according to the Vietnamese law. Besides, they have now also other privileges, such as transfer land-use rights on selling; offer-change rights on house inheritance; house mortgage with land-use rights in credit organizations allowed to operate in Vietnam; contemporarily lease; or authorization for housing management with land-use rights (if the property is not for living in).

How will the property market be affected?

According to the report from the Government, this law could impact the local property market. However, the housing supply is now rather big. According to the housing development statistics during the past 5 years, the country built about 37 million square meters of housing per year. Especially in 2008, there were about 50 million square meters of housing built, including 28 million square meters in urban areas, 5-6 million square meters in HCM City, and around 2 million of square meters in Hanoi. Moreover, when this law will be promulgated, only overseas Vietnamese having real demands, financial capacity and matching the laws’ conditions could buy houses in Vietnam, which represents fewer than 3 million people.

Furthermore, according to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the State issued many bills concerning the home ownership, such as tax law (valued-added tax, individual income tax, enterprise’s income tax), and real estate business law. In the coming time, the National Assembly will pass this Housing and Land Law, which will facilitate the restriction of home transactions just to reach profits. If the owners want to buy, sell, or lease houses, they must register and pay a tax to the State. The National Assembly added that overseas Vietnamese “will be only allowed owning houses for themselves and their families to reside in Vietnam”. It’s necessary that the Government concretely stipulates the conditions concerning the housing transactions, in order to limit speculation”, Nguyen Duc Kien, National Assembly’s vice chairman said.

Le Dinh - Rol.vn