Overseas Vietnamese surprised at high-priced HCM City land

Many overseas Vietnamese want to buy a house in their hometown, but the prices for land and housing in HCM City are higher than in Australia, the US, Canada or France.

Nguyen Thi Quy, who has been living in Australia for more than 30 years and plans to return home in the next few years, said: “I returned home this time to seek a piece of land, but it is very expensive. Five years ago, my sister-in-law suggested a house in District 2, but the price for real estate in this area is at least $1500-2000 per square meter at present.”

She said her family has a 900 square meter house in Australia, which costs less than $1 million or $1100 per square meter. The house is conveniently located for daily life and work. If she chooses to stay in Vietnam, she would have to make a difficult choice since the land is more expensive than Australia and she is not sure she will find a good job.

“It is difficult to call for overseas Vietnamese to return to build up the country without a good housing policy,” she added.

Duong Nguyen Vu, who has lived in France for several decades, plans to retire early to live in Vietnam, but purchasing a house in his hometown is his biggest concern.

“I will need a house in Vietnam in the next few years but the housing prices in Vietnam, especially in HCM City, are very expensive and much higher than in Paris,” Vu sighed.

According to surveys conducted by CBRE and Savills, real estate in Vietnam, particularly in HCM City, is always among the countries and territories with the highest prices. Analysts determined that the land and housing prices in HCM City are very high because the land area is limited while the flow of emigrants is rising sharply.

The real estate market was gloomy last year, but the prices were still very high, exceeding the purchasing ability of most people. According to the Ministry of Construction’s statistics, the average price for a square meter of land in HCM City’s inner area is over 20 million dong (over $1000) and over 10 million dong for the outskirts. These prices are out of range for the poor.

In addition, many overseas Vietnamese complain that the legal procedures for owning a house in Vietnam are still complicated. Chairwoman of the HCM City Liaison Association for Overseas Vietnamese Luong Bach Van revealed that around 80 percent of overseas Vietnamese want to buy houses in Vietnam but only a small number of them can.

In a talk about the Law on Nationality and the Housing Law in HCM City on January 31, Ministry of Construction’s Department for Housing and Real Estate Market Management Chief Nguyen Manh Ha observed that overseas Vietnamese’s complaints were discussed at the National Assembly. Ha called for overseas Vietnamese to be patient because the NA will need time to adjust the laws.

VietNamNet/VNE

Tags: HCM city real estate market, vietnam real estate market