HÀ NỘI — HCM City People’s Committee has asked relevant departments to tackle problems in granting house ownership certificates to overseas Vietnamese to encourage their investment into the real estate market.

Statistics of the municipal Department of Construction revealed that only 15 Việt kiều (overseas Vietnamese) and foreigners were granted house ownership certificates in the city during the past two years.

The figure was too modest compared to the number of overseas Vietnamese and foreigners who lived and worked in HCM City, the department said.

Experts said that this was caused by complicated procedures, as well as slow progress in identifying areas and projects, which cannot be sold to foreigners.

Trần Hòa Phương, Deputy Chairman of HCM City Overseas Vietnamese Committee, said that the most difficult procedure was still in identity confirmation.

The confirmation of identity for overseas Vietnamese was jointly conducted by the Việt Nam embassies, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs and provincial/municipal judicial departments of foreign countries, Phương said. He added that the money transfer from foreign countries to Việt Nam also needed to be in compliance with the laws.

Expert, Nguyễn Trí Hiếu, said the regulations must be more open while the promotion of projects, which can be owned by foreigners, must be enhanced.

Deputy Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, in a document sent to relevant departments urged them to speed up the identification of areas which cannot be owned by foreigners, to ensure national security.

The Department of Construction must clarify the list of commercial housing projects, which cannot be sold to foreigners and make it public on the department’s e-portal, he said.

The legal framework for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to grant ownership certificates to overseas Vietnamese and foreigners must also be improved, he added.

Statistics of the HCM City Real Estate Association revealed that around 22 per cent of remittances into the southern city flew into real estate.

In the first nine months of this year, HCM City attracted more than US$3.3 billion worth of remittances, up 6 per cent over the same period last year. — VNS