[teamwork007]

One piece of information the article doesn't acknowledge is that property rights in Vietnam aren't the same as they are in the US. So if a foreigner "buys" an apartment in Vietnam, they can only have it for up to 50 years. In other words, it's an asset that is steadily decreasing in value, and not one that the "owner" can necessarily hand down to the next generation at a higher or the same value unless changes are made to those laws.

[mancerayder]

Well, you might be shocked to hear this is true of London as well. Very few areas have land you can buy without a land lease, called freeholds.

Large landowner (ex aristocrat) or government, what difference does it make? The land is forever not yours.

[refurb]

Are you sure that’s how it works? I thought the distinction was ownership versus lease.

You lease it for 50 years, but in the end you can sell the actual property to a citizen or sell it to a non-citizen who will get a 50 year lease.

[teamwork007]

There isn't much clarification around what will happen since it hasn't happened yet: http://vietnamembassy-usa.org/basic-page/land-regulations

[jjeaff]

Can they sell it at the end of those 50 years and buy something else? If so, I can't see why purchasing one would necessarily be steadily decreasing in value, except for the requirement of a rushed sale if you waited until the very last minute to sell.

[teamwork007]

Because you wouldn't get your money back at the end of that 50 years. If you sold it after 35 years, you would essentially be selling a 15 year contract to own the apartment, which would likely be factored into the resale price.

[tartoran]

Then wouldn't it work out to rent instead?

[adnjoo]

if the apartment is bought with his Vietnamese wife then it could be a freehold

[vntx]

Right.

Vietnam still is a communist country in that respect.

The government still owns all the land and is legally leasing it to its citizens and foreigners. In reality, now that Vietnam is increasingly open to the world economy the government has to treat property rights better or else it'll scare foreign investment away.

The lack of private property rights and the Vietnam's Communist Party stranglehold on the economy with their state owned enterprises is a huge drag on productivity and innovation.

Fortunately, it seems like things are improving.

[digianarchist]

Nothing to do with communism. Capitalist Thailand has thirty year limits on property ownership with the exemption of condo buildings that are majority owned by Thai citizens.

Hell even Singapore limits property ownership of foreigners.