More overseas Vietnam are seeking to own real estate in Vietnam, according to a Savills’ report released on March 14.

Figures from the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese show that the amount of remittances to Vietnam between 1993, the first year figures were recorded, and the end of 2022 stood at over $190 billion, nearly equal to the volume of FDI disbursed in the same period.

The record $19 billion sent in 2022 alone put Vietnam in the group of ten countries receiving the largest remittances from abroad. Remittances in 2023 reached more than $16 billion.

In particular, remittances for real estate sector are increasing.

According to figures for 2016 from the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), about 15-20 per cent of the annual amount was invested directly in real estate, or some 10,000 apartments.

Recently, the expansion of land use rights for Vietnamese residing abroad in the newly-passed Land Law is good news for the overseas Vietnamese community wishing to own real estate in Vietnam.

Mr. Troy Griffiths, Deputy Managing Director of Savills Vietnam, said this change will bring more investment opportunities to overseas Vietnamese real estate buyers.

“This also creates great potential for the market, thanks to direct investment capital from overseas Vietnamese,” he added. “In the past, overseas Vietnamese who wanted to invest back in Vietnam had to go through relatives, thus leading to some unnecessary disputes. The new Law will resolve this problem, create more favorable conditions for investment, and minimize the possibility of risks between parties during the investment process.”

One of the main points, he went on, is that the majority of Vietnamese people living abroad are older. They may have migrated, and after many years of hard work have a certain amount of assets and are considering investing in Vietnam or perhaps even returning.

“It is also important to note that there are many Vietnamese people working abroad, not only people who migrated,” he said. “This creates a huge source of potential investors.”