Vietnam to stop foreigners acquiring land through local proxies

His reassurance came after lawmakers at the ongoing National Assembly session expressed concern over Vietnamese acquiring property in their name for foreigners, who can buy apartments but are prohibited from buying land or individual houses.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, had said earlier there was increasing demand for Ho Chi Minh City real estate among Chinese investors.

The biggest concern was that they asked Vietnamese to buy for them, even properties of very large value, Chau said.

National Assembly delegates representing the central city of Da Nang said last November there was increasing buying of land by Chinese along the coast.

Lawmakers demanded a stop to this trend. “Vietnamese should be prohibited from being proxies for foreigners for acquiring land,” a house proposal to the government demanded.

Dinh Duy Vuot, a delegate from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, even wanted land acquired this way to be appropriated.

In 2015 the government widened foreigners’ rights to buy housing in Vietnam under the amended Housing Law. But red tape remains a bottleneck to their exercising the right.