> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://en.thevietmedia.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Will Foreigners in Vietnam Soon Be Limited to Apartments? - URL: https://en.thevietmedia.net/vietnam-housing-law-foreigners-landed-houses-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-11T15:44:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-11T15:44:18.000Z - Description: A draft amendment would bar foreigners from owning villas and townhouses in Vietnam. Here is what the draft says, what it means for current owners, and when lawmakers vote. - Author: The Viet Media - Tags: Vietnam, Real Estate, Policy & Regulation \[Will Foreigners in Vietnam Soon Be Limited to Apartments?\] Many people assume foreigners in Vietnam can only buy apartments in high-rises. That is not quite right. Foreigners cannot hold land-use rights, and any home they buy must sit inside an approved housing development. But inside those projects, the current Housing Law also lets them buy villas and townhouses, subject to a cap on the total number. That may be about to change. A draft amendment to the Housing Law, recently published by the Ministry of Construction, would bar foreign organisations and individuals from owning landed homes such as villas and townhouses. They would be limited to apartments. The National Assembly opens its session in mid-October, and the draft is on the list of bills lawmakers plan to pass. The apartment rules would largely stay the same. Foreigners could still buy apartments from developers, or receive them as gifts or inheritances. In any one building, foreigners as a group could own no more than 30% of the units. Other limits would not change either. Ownership still runs for up to 50 years and can be extended once. Projects in areas set aside for national defence and security remain off-limits. Foreigners married to Vietnamese citizens living in Vietnam keep the same housing rights as Vietnamese citizens. The Ministry of Construction says the change brings housing rules in line with Resolution 21, a land policy resolution adopted this year by the Communist Party of Vietnam's Central Committee. The resolution says land must never be privatised and that foreigners may not receive land-use rights in any form, with an exception for overseas Vietnamese. Under the draft, apartment ownership is tied to the shared land of a whole project. Local media have suggested that dropping landed homes may be meant to stop foreigners from gaining the use of a separate plot of land through a house purchase. The numbers involved are small. According to the ministry, foreigners own a little over 6,000 homes in Vietnam in total, and every home they have bought in the roughly two years since the current law took effect has been an apartment. Not everyone thinks a full ban is needed. Nguyễn Văn Đính, a lawyer with the Hanoi Bar Association, told local media that foreigners could be allowed to own a house without getting the land-use rights beneath it. Treating the two separately, he said, would still meet the requirements of Resolution 21. So what happens to foreigners who already own a villa or townhouse? As the draft currently reads, anyone who already owns a landed home, or has signed a purchase contract for one, before the amendment takes effect will remain under the current Housing Law. Public reports do not say whether off-plan purchases or deposits count as a signed contract, or whether these homes could later be resold to other foreigners. Those details could still change before the vote. When the National Assembly's Committee on Legal and Judicial Affairs reviewed the draft, its standing members asked the drafters to re-examine who is eligible to own housing, how foreigners' home ownership relates to land-use rights, and what happens to a home when ownership expires or the owner is expelled from the country. Commentators have also urged lawmakers to spell out the legal status of homes bought lawfully under the current law. In early October, the National Assembly Standing Committee said the draft was ready to go before the full assembly and could be passed this session, which is scheduled to end in late November. Even if it passes, most provisions would not take effect until mid-2027 under the government's plan. The same session will also take up an amendment to the Law on Real Estate Business. An earlier version proposed letting foreigners buy condotels, officetels and similar properties. The assembly's Economic and Finance Committee asked the government at the time to explain the basis for the policy and how it would be controlled. The draft may still change. The final rules will be those in the law the National Assembly passes; consult a lawyer for individual cases. This article is not legal or investment advice. --- **The Viet Media Pro**: at least four in-depth articles a month, access to every paid article, building into a knowledge base on Vietnam's policy, industries, companies, and people. ![The Viet Media Pro plans and pricing](https://en.thevietmedia.net/content/images/2026/09/price-card.en.png) [**Subscribe to The Viet Media Pro →**](https://thevietmedia.net/?ref=en.thevietmedia.net#/portal/signup)