Vietnam coastline set to become big attraction to foreign real estate investors

The head of planning and foreign investment in Vietnam is predicting that the country’s tourism real estate market will see a boom in five years time and declared he has no worries about exploiting beautiful areas.

Phan Huu Thang is encouraging developers to promote property investment in real estate resorts to foreign buyers as this will be a key part of the growth of Vietnam’s property sector.
‘Investment in real estate has been increasing significantly in the last two years, responding to many changes in the land laws. Foreign investors have shown special interest in real estate projects that will serve the tourism sector,’ he said.

Indeed, real estate is now the second biggest magnet for foreign direct investment with nearly 300 projects currently licensed and total registered capital of $33.9 billion.
 
Thang described the Vietnam coastline as ‘an ideal setting for luxury resorts’ and said the government is keen to ‘exploit’ the coast. ‘If we can effectively exploit our 3,260 kilometres of coast, 125 beaches, beautiful landscape and cultural heritage, we will be able to build up a tourism real estate market of international scope,’ he explained.
Initially development is likely to be concentrated on beaches from Quang Binh south to Ninh Thuan. ‘Looking further, we can exploit the big potential in other areas such as the Red River Delta, Mekong Delta, the mountains of northwest Vietnam and the Central Highlands area. All these places can be ideal areas for resort development,’ said Thang.

The developments are likely to be chains of villas, resort apartments and villas associated with golf courses. ‘These have become the favourite models. Villas have been designed with features that allow people to relax while staying close to nature. Hill slope, forest and mountain areas, lake or coastal areas are the top choice for resorts,’ added Thang.

But for this vision to be realised developers need to attract foreign money, he explained. ‘Many Vietnamese investors do not follow long term investment plans. They just wait to see the land price escalating and then sell the right to develop a project to foreign investors. Meanwhile, foreign investors do not have the land to carry our projects and encounter difficulties in site clearance,’ he said.

He added that a sub department is to be created to attract foreign investment, particularly from the US, Japan and Asia.