Vietnam Considers Foreign Ownership of Hospitality RE

To reduce unsold inventory and boost tourism infrastructure investment, the Construction Ministry has proposed that foreign investors are allowed to own hospitality property. Foreign ownership could help reduce the rising number of unsold properties in the country, whose value reached VND223 trillion ($9.6 billion) last year, up 38 percent from 2018. Towards this, current laws on real estate ownership need to be changed to increase the foreign ownership cap in apartment buildings and allow foreigners to own hospitality properties like condotels and villas, it suggested. The real estate market is facing difficulties including low demand and decreased foreign investment, while supply of hospitality real estate like resorts and condotels has been increasing with the approval of many projects, the ministry noted. The hospitality property can present attractive options to an estimated 83,500 foreigners living in Vietnam. Vietnam currently allows foreigners to own up to 30 percent of an apartment project, but there is no regulation on ownership of hospitality properties.