Luxury housing project attracts foreign interest: Why is it expensive yet vacant?

According to a journalist's investigation, the Casamia Calm project (located in Dong Na) owned by Dat Phuong Hoi An JSC has become a bright spot in the market at the beginning of the second quarter of this year. It is a rare project in the heart of Hoi An that has been granted permission. The urban area boasts a unique location next to Tra Que vegetable village, surrounded by the Co Co River, and only 2km away from Hoi An ancient town. The urban area has an excellent landscape plan based on natural terrain, with contemporary design language to create a delicate and harmonious resort-style urban area with modern internal facilities such as villas, clubhouses, restaurants, hotels, islands, etc. 

Due to the outstanding factors mentioned above, the project was sold out in less than a month and received a lot of inquiries from European clients on the possibility of owning villas. There were also cases where Vietnamese customers asked the owner if they could transfer the villas to foreigners.

According to current laws of Vietnam, foreigners are only allowed to buy and own no more than 30% of the total number of apartments in a building. If it is a separate house including a villa, a row house, etc., then in an area with a population equivalent to an administrative unit at the ward level, foreigners can only buy or rent-purchase up to 250 houses. 

The law also stipulates that foreign individuals can own houses under agreements in home purchase and sale contracts but for a maximum of 50 years, from the date of issuance of the Certificate of Ownership and can be extended; before the expiration of owning the house, the owner can give or sell it to subjects who are eligible to own a house in Vietnam. If the term of owning the house expires and the owner does not sell or give it, the house belongs to the state ownership.

However, the law does not have a specific regulation regarding which position or area can be sold to foreigners except for the areas ensuring national defense and security as stipulated by the Government. 

A representative of Dat Phuong Hoi An said that the company is aware that investing and developing real estate in the heritage city of Hoi An must bear the responsibility of protecting and preserving the heritage area. Therefore, the company has worked seriously with functional agencies to clarify issues related to real estate business activities. Dat Phuong Hoi An has sent a letter to Quang Nam Department of Construction regarding whether the company is allowed to sell houses to foreigners at projects in Hoi An. In fact, the Casamia Calm (Dong Na) project has sold out and has not been sold to any foreign customers. 

The document from Quang Nam Department of Construction replied to Dat Phuong Hoi An as follows: The Con Tien Urban Area, Cam Thanh Commune, and Dong Na Service Urban Area in Cam Ha Commune are the areas where organizations and individuals are not allowed to own houses according to regulations. The Department of Construction proposed that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Hoi An City People's Committee not allow organizations and individuals abroad to own houses in this project when carrying out procedures for granting and transferring land use rights and ownership of houses according to the laws on housing and real estate business. 

Therefore, in addition to the Dong Na urban area, the Con Tien urban area developed by Dat Phuong Hoi An with an area of more than 31ha will not sell houses to foreigners. 

The reason why Dat Phuong Hoi An asked a question about the Con Tien urban area is because the area is highly attractive to both domestic and foreign customers. Apart from the beautiful location of the Con Tien urban area, after two first real estate projects in Hoi An (Dong Na and Vong Nhi), Dat Phuong has shown its ability to create unique and high-class projects, setting a new standard for a prosperous living space. 

Living space brings comfort and increases happiness for residents, has the potential for business operation, and has the prospect of increasing asset value. These projects are a guarantee of the creativity and daring of Dat Phuong in bringing new values to customers. 

However, not all real estate projects in Vietnam are easy to attract foreign customers, especially European customers interested in Dat Phuong's projects. 

In a survey conducted in 2020 by the Vietnam Real Estate Association on the situation of selling houses to foreigners over 5 years (2015 - 2020) of 17 large real estate corporations and businesses, the results showed that the number of houses purchased by foreigners in Vietnam in the past 5 years was only about 14,800 - 16,000 units throughout the country, accounting for less than 2% of the total number of developed houses in the same period, much lower than the regulated 30% in the projects. 

Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, said that the demand for real estate transactions of foreigners is very different. A lot of foreigners want to live in Vietnam, but mostly they will choose to rent houses. Only projects that met many criteria could arouse the intense emotions of the difficult-to-please customers.