Foreign investment flow into real-estate projects

Japan currently tops the list of 47 countries and territories investing in Vietnam's real estate. 
According to statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), Vietnam attracted a total of US$12.63 billion in FDI in the first eight months of this year, a rise of 19.5 % over the same period last year. 

Among the 18 sectors that drew foreign investments, real estate ranked second with a total of US$588.11 million, making up 4.7% of the country's total FDI, followed by mananufacturing and processing industries. 

By August, about 400 FDI property deals were concluded, worth a total of US$48.23 billion. 
According to Savills Vietnam, the increasing FDI in the property market is due to recovery signs in the economy in the first half of the year, together with Government efforts to support the market with tax incentives and preferential loans, according to the Dau Tu Chung Khoan newspaper. 

Savills said that Japanese investors are showing greater interests in Vietnamese property, expecting that it will become a medium- and long-term destination for their money. 

Real estate company CBRE Vietnam forecast that many huge foreign investors will seek business opportunities in the property market by the end of the year. 
However, there is growing concern about the massive increase of FDI into the country's property market. 

Reports say many foreign investors register for real estate projects, but left them fallow for years due to failure to mobilise capital from domestic sources. 

Ministries and authorities have also been asked to complete regulations on land, housing, site clearance and compensation to ensure transparency in land management and encourage both foreign and domestic investors.