Vietnam Moves to Bar Foreign Buyers From Villas and Townhouses Entirely

Vietnam's draft amended Housing Law would remove the right of foreign organisations and individuals to own detached houses, villas and townhouses in Vietnam altogether, leaving apartments as the only residential asset class open to them. The draft is expected to reach the National Assembly at its second session in October 2026. Under the Housing Law 2023 still in force, foreign buyers may hold up to 250 individual houses in an area with a population equivalent to one ward.

What it means for a foreign buyer

If you are holding a villa or townhouse bought inside a licensed Vietnamese project, the draft does not confiscate it, but it does change what you own. The exit market for that unit narrows to domestic buyers and to overseas Vietnamese who still hold Vietnamese nationality, because the next foreign purchaser will no longer be legally able to take title. Price that in now rather than at resale. If you are mid-purchase on landed stock and have not yet received the pink book, the governing question is which law applies on the date your certificate is issued, not the date you signed, so get written confirmation from the developer on where your file sits in the certification queue.

If you are still choosing what to buy, the practical effect is that landed property in Vietnam is closing as a foreign-ownership route and the 30 percent per-building apartment cap becomes the whole game. That cap is applied building by building in multi-building projects under the draft, not pooled across the development, so a tower where the foreign allocation is nearly full is a different proposition from its neighbour on the same masterplan. Ask for the current foreign quota consumption on the specific building, in writing, before you pay a deposit.

The window to buy landed property as a foreigner is open only for as long as the current law stands.

What changed

The draft removes an entire category rather than repricing it. Foreign organisations and individuals would be able to buy apartments in multi-unit buildings only, capped at no more than 30 percent of the apartments in a single building, with that ratio calculated separately for each building where a project contains several. Villas, townhouses and other detached houses inside commercial projects, which foreign buyers can acquire today subject to the ward-level ceiling, come off the table.

The 250-house allowance is the provision being deleted. Under the Housing Law 2023 a foreign buyer can own no more than 250 individual houses in an area whose population is equivalent to a ward, a measure that permitted landed purchases while capping their concentration. The draft does not lower that number. It removes the right.

Ownership tenure for foreign individuals is unchanged in the draft: not exceeding 50 years from the date the certificate is issued, extendable once for the remaining period of the apartment's use, and in any case not exceeding a further 50 years.