HCM CITY — The HCM City Real Estate Association has rejected media reports that there has been a surge in the purchase of housing in HCM City by foreigners, with most being from mainland China and Hong Kong.

Many newspapers had quoted property consultancy CBRE Vietnam as saying 31 per cent of housing actually sold in HCM City was bought by Chinese and 10 per cent by Hong Kong investors.

“The figures do not reflect the whole situation of the HCM City real-estate market,” HoREA chairman, Lê Hoàng Châu, said, explaining that the CBRE report was based on information from its customers mostly in the high-end market.

HoREA also said there was no case of Chinese not living in Việt Nam buying houses.

CBRE recently issued a clarification, saying there had been a misunderstanding about the report in the media.

Some articles had provided incomplete information and out of context, confusing readers, it said.

The company explained that its report was based on transactions done at its transaction centre and focused on the luxury and high-end segments, which interest foreign buyers, especially Chinese.

“In the first nine months of 2018, the number of Chinese buyers accounted for 31 per cent of CBRE’s total transactions, compared to only 4 per cent in 2017. We also emphasised in the statement that this is the system. Statistics are based only on CBRE transactions and do not represent the entire market.

“Since CBRE mainly deals in the luxury/high-end segments and mainly works with foreign buyers, the data provided was for reference only.”

The company found there was more and more attention from buyers who had never been to the country before. It said in the past, if foreign buyers bought houses, it was mainly because they lived and worked in Việt Nam for a long time.

Now, thanks to active marketing by developers in foreign markets, individual investors in foreign countries know more about Việt Nam and many decide to buy even if they have never set foot in Việt Nam, it said.

In fact, after identifying a project or product they are interested in, they come to Việt Nam, work with CBRE’s property transaction centre, visit the project, complete the necessary procedures for buying, and sign the contracts, it said.

However, as soon as this report was released, there was a lot of incomplete or misleading news that led to misunderstanding among readers, the company added. – VNS