Property
All land is owned by the people, held through time-limited use rights
There is no private ownership of land: the state holds it on behalf of the people and grants land use rights, typically for fifty years for projects. Foreigners cannot hold residential land use rights but may own apartments within quota.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Provincial People's Committees allocate and lease land and issue certificates. The 2024 Land Law took effect on 1 August 2024, ahead of its original schedule.
Governing law
- Land Law No. 31/2024/QH15
- Law on Housing No. 27/2023/QH15
- Law on Real Estate Business No. 29/2023/QH15
In practice
Land use right certificates are the tradable interest, and they are mortgageable, transferable and inheritable subject to conditions. Foreign-invested enterprises normally lease from the state or sublease serviced land inside industrial zones. Foreign individuals and entities may own apartments capped at 30 percent of units in a building and 250 houses in a ward, on ownership terms of fifty years, renewable. Compulsory acquisition for socio-economic development has been the most contested area; the 2024 Land Law narrowed the permitted grounds and moved compensation toward market-based valuation, replacing the government land price framework with annual provincial price tables.