The Government’s pilot project allowing foreigners to buy domestic houses, albeit tied together with specific conditions, will be submitted to the National Assembly by the middle of this year.

Of the 81,000 foreigners living and working in the country,approximately 16,000 satisfy the conditions and needing the same number of flats, equivalent to a total area of between 1.6 and 2.4 million sq.m, said Ministry of Construction authority and drafter Nguyen Manh Khoi.

According to the project’s conditions, foreigners would be permitted to buy one house each to be used as living quarters only, not to serve as a business or office space. They would also be able to present or sell the property after one year if they decided to leave the country.

Furthermore, foreigners would not be allowed to own apartments in tenements, villas and land tenures. Foreigners are allowed to possess the house for 70 years, which could be lengthened with the authorities’ agreement.

The binding conditions are comprised of the following: receiving lawful resident certificates in Viet Nam for over one year, not being hunted as international criminals by Interpol as well as possessing housing licenses issued by the Government, unless the buyers are State honoured citizens or from foreign-invested enterprises.

According to Khoi, the policy would create better housing conditions for foreigners living and working in Viet Nam for extended periods of time, and would help reduce rented-housing costs for many foreign experts and scientists living and working in Viet Nam. However, the policy would also boost housing prices in some local areas, especially in Ha Noi and HCM City, due to a current lack of houses.

VNS