New land law offers more chances for overseas Vietnamese to own real estate in Vietnam: Savills

The expansion of land use rights for overseas Vietnamese (OV) in the recently passed 2024 Land Law is good news for OVs who want to own real estate in Vietnam, said experts from Savills Vietnam.

This takes on even more meaning considering the strong remittance flow to Vietnam in 2023, which exceeded $16 billion, up 32% year-on-year.

The 2024 Land Law, taking effect on January 1, 2025, introduces significant changes for OV land users. They will be entitled to almost all the land use rights previously reserved for Vietnamese citizens.

Additionally, foreign-invested economic entities and people of Vietnamese origin abroad will benefit from the expanded rights, including receiving transferred land use rights and re-renting land use rights at industrial and hi-tech parks.

This change will bring more investment opportunities for OV homebuyers, said deputy managing director of Savills Vietnam Troy Griffiths.

It also creates great potential for the market thanks to direct investment capital from OVs.

In the past, overseas Vietnamese only owned houses in Vietnam through relatives, resulting in disputes. The new law will solve this problem, creating more favorable conditions for their investment and minimizing the risks of disputes between parties, said Griffiths.

The OV group also includes many Vietnamese people working abroad, a huge source of potential investors.

Statistics provided by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs revealed a substantial flow of remittances into Vietnam. From 1993, when the first year remittance data was collected, to the end of 2022, the total amount of remittances surpassed $190 billion, almost equal to the FDI sum disbursed in the same period.

The record remittance of $19 billion in 2022 alone put Vietnam in the top 10 remittance recipients in the world.

A significant portion of remittances, primarily from Asian countries through workers, has already been directed towards real estate sector, according to Griffiths.