The Sun Avenue, located in the heart of the Thu Thiem peninsula. — VNS Photo

Ngan Duong

The changes to the Housing Law allow foreigners and overseas Vietnamese to buy houses in Viet Nam with few stipulations

Ms Lam Thi Hoa, a Vietnamese-American who has lived away from home for over 20 years, said: "For a long time my husband and I really wished to return to Viet Nam after retirement. So when I heard about the new housing laws, I was very excited and collected a lot of information about the Vietnamese real estate market from relatives and friends.

"My first criterion for buying a house was quality and the living environment, which had to be standardised like in developed countries."

Standards required to match foreigners' expectations

> >Novaland Office Building 65 Nguyen Du St, Dist 1, HCM City ----------------------------------------- > Show house of Novaland 67 Mai Chi Tho Avenue, Dist 2, HCM City Hotline: 0938 55 19 19 0903 08 22 62 0938 83 50 50 ----------------------------------------- > www.novaland.com.vn

Foreigners and overseas Vietnamese usually have a stable source of income with high living standards, and thus their purchasing decisions are mainly influenced by the quality of planning, design, and facilities. A majority of this group also seek to make long-term investments, meaning they are especially interested in locations that are potentially profitable.

Ms. Hoa said, "We are aiming to buy only high-class apartments."

Together with her husband and friends, she visited many different projects in Viet Nam and showed special interest in Novaland projects like The Sun Avenue (District 2); Lucky Palace (District 6), and The Botanica (Tan Binh District).

There is an obvious common strand in these Novaland projects: they are all in strategic locations and benefit from synchronised planning for long-term development.

In recent times customers from the US and Europe have expressed particular interest in The Sun Avenue (District 2) in the east of HCM City because it is located in the heart of the Thu Thiem peninsula, a newly developing area with a modern infrastructure and facilities of international quality around it.

Meanwhile, overseas Vietnamese originally from southern Viet Nam and foreigners who usually visit Viet Nam by air are impressed by The Botanica, the luxury complex in the heart of Tan Binh District and less than five minutes from the airport.

The Botanica is a hot cake because of its natural surroundings and fresh environment right in the city's downtown. Besides two internal parks of 1,000m2 each, The Botanica is also situated next to three of the city's "green lungs": Hoang Van Thu Park, Gia Dinh Park and the green campus of the High Command of the 7th Military District.

Lucky Palace with facilities of international standards quality. — VNS Photo

Located very close to the largest wholesale markets in Saigon (Binh Tay Market, Soai Kinh Lam Market, Kim Bien Market...), Lucky Palace is a magnet for overseas Chinese buyers. It is one of the few developments in District 6 to emphasise the trend of integrating commercial centres and luxury apartments with international living standards.

Besides location, foreign visitors are particularly interested in the quality and design of an apartment. A unique element that distinguishes Novaland's projects from those of others is the blending of modern life with a peaceful ambience. Each apartment has beautiful views of the Saigon River or the city centre to provide open living spaces filled with fresh air and natural light to all residents.

Attractive promotions to make dreams come true

After the changes to the law took effect, Novaland introduced a slew of attractive sales promotions targeted at overseas Vietnamese and foreigners to help them achieve their dreams of enjoying high-class living in their homeland. More specifically, it offers:

- A round-trip air ticket to visit projects

- Lease commitment with a guaranteed 8 per cent annual return and management service in the interior finishing stage, or commitment on full refund plus profit

- Free advice on legal; supports on any incidents that could happen during the leasing duration

- Supporting on investment and assets management, such as collecting and transfering through banks for home owners when they are not in Viet Nam

These positive moves will surely help stimulate the market, opening up more opportunities for foreign customers to invest in the Vietnamese housing market.