Chinese investors make a beeline for Vietnam’s luxury real estate, until their passports run into a wall over South China Sea dispute
- Under Vietnamese law, foreign buyers are required to submit their passports to secure a document from the government to grant them ownership of a flat
- Since Chinese passports depict the disputed Paracel Islands as Chinese territory, buyers from mainland China typically encounter difficulties in securing ownership from Vietnam’s authorities
A territorial dispute between Hanoi and Beijing is denting Chinese investors’ demand for Vietnam’s luxury homes.
Under Vietnamese law, foreign buyers are required to submit their passports to secure a document from the government to grant them ownership of a flat. Since Chinese passports depict the disputed Paracel Islands – known as Xisha in Chinese, and Hoang Sa in Vietnamese – as Chinese territory, buyers from mainland China typically encounter difficulties in securing ownership.
“It’s not that the mainland Chinese are not interested in Vietnam’s property market, but there are issues between Vietnam and China,” said Andy Han, group chief executive officer at SonKim Land, a luxury property developer with five residential projects in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).
“It impacted about 10 per cent of [our sales]. Many Hongkongers bought apartments ranging from US$200,000 to US$500,000 from us because Hong Kong is really expensive.”
Buyers from Hong Kong and mainland China are SonKim’s third-biggest group of foreign customers, making up 20 per cent of the developer’s sales.