New ownership rights help spur sales

Developers are even pitching Vietnamese property abroad in the run-up to the change in the law on July 1
Photo: Le Toan

VinaCapital Real Estate director of transactions Mathew Koziora claimed the company, which is a developer of the high-end Danang Beach Resort, has received increased enquiries from foreigners to buy villas in the project.

“Five star projects in the coastal region like Danang Beach Resort have attracted international buyers,” Koziora said.

He added that so far more than 5 per cent of the buyers in Danang Beach Resort were international customers and this number would increase after July this year when the newly revised Law on Housing is put into operation with more rights open for foreigners to buy houses in Vietnam.

In Hanoi, Hoa Binh Group has become the first local developer to capitalise on the amended Law on Housing to sell apartments to foreigners. The company has announced that it will earmark a large number of apartments at the Hoa Binh Green City in Hanoi for sales to expats once the law takes effect on July 1, 2015.

The law, which was passed by the National Assembly on November 25, 2014, has created unprecedented opportunities for foreigners to purchase and own residential housing in Vietnam.

Nguyen Huu Duong, chairman and general director of Hoa Binh Group, has been excited since the National Assembly passed the amended law.

He said foreign homebuyers were interested in living in city centres. Therefore, he decided to sell a large of number of apartments at the Hoa Binh Green City to foreigners this July.

Currently, a handful of foreign businessmen and investors are leasing apartments in the first Hoa Binh Green City building. They have expressed the desire to buy apartments in the second building when the law takes effect.

Duong’s positive opinion was based on the fact that before Hoa Binh Green City, Duong also developed the Hoa Binh International Towers in Hoang Quoc Viet Street and the Hoa Binh Green Apartment in the capital’s Buoi street. These projects have attracted a lot of foreigners and most of the tenants are Japanese, who are very discerning about construction quality.

“All our projects are built to high standards and can meet the most discerning demand of foreign homebuyers,” said Duong.

Duong Thuy Dung, director of Research and Consulting Services of CBRE Vietnam said that in Ho Chi Minh City, CBRE had seen more attention from foreign developers as the deadline for sales to foreigners approached.

“We have closely worked with foreign developers such as CapitaLand, Kepple Land and Mapletree and realised that those developers are strictly following the market in order to have the best preparation for this,” Dung said.

Those developers, Dung said, were paying attention to foreigners and have also mapped out marketing strategies aimed at foreigners. Apart from a marketing strategy inside Vietnam, they have also marketed products abroad, Dung said.

‘This is a very positive reflection of the policy because instead of staying in Vietnam to wait for foreigners, developers are now pursuing customers from abroad,” Dung said.

Even though the actual details of the revised law have not been released yet, the number of residences

registered by foreigners has increased compared to previous times, even compared to the end of last year, she said.

Meanwhile Richard Leech, executive director of CBRE Vietnam, said that foreigners were paying most attention on the coastal projects of Vietnam, such as Danang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc Island and good quality developments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City because those were very sought-after locations.

In the central city of Hue, almost all of the products in the Laguna Lang Co complex developed by Singapore’s Banyan Tree Holdings were sold to foreigners.

According to a source from Laguna Lang Co, the Singaporean developer had not yet focused on marketing second-home lifestyles to the Vietnamese market. Instead, the marketing campaign is focused on international markets, via Banyan Tree’s channels throughout Asia.

“Banyan Tree is a famous brand in Asia. We have our own customers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. So many foreign home buyers already know who we are and how they can benefit from our project,” added the source.

According to the new law, foreigners eligible to purchase residential properties include all those who are granted a visa to Vietnam, all foreign investment funds, banks, Vietnamese branches and representative offices of foreign companies.