The 2024 amendments to the Housing Law significantly expanded foreign ownership rights. Here's what you can now buy, for how long, and the restrictions that remain.
The 2024 amendments to Vietnam's Housing Law, effective August 2024, introduced the most significant expansion of foreign property ownership rights in a decade.
What Foreigners Can Buy
Foreign individuals and organisations may purchase apartments in residential projects (condominiums) and detached houses in approved residential projects. The key restriction: ownership in any single building complex is capped at 30% foreign ownership, and in a ward, no more than 10% of detached houses may be foreign-owned.
Ownership Duration
Foreigners hold property on a 50-year renewable term (extendable for another 50 years). Vietnamese nationals hold land use rights for much longer periods. This asymmetry remains the most significant practical difference between foreign and domestic ownership.
The Buying Process
All foreign purchases must go through a licensed real estate transaction floor. The Sale and Purchase Agreement must be notarised by a Vietnamese notary office. Payment must be made through a licensed commercial bank in Vietnam — direct cash transactions are prohibited.
The removal of the in-person requirement was a watershed moment — it opened Vietnam's property market to the diaspora in a way nothing else had.
2024 Changes
The most important 2024 change is the removal of the requirement for foreigners to be physically present in Vietnam to buy property. Purchases can now be completed by a duly authorised representative, making offshore purchases from diaspora communities significantly easier.
Another notable change: foreign-owned apartments can now be used as collateral for bank loans at Vietnamese banks, previously unavailable and a major impediment to financing.
