Overseas remittances fuelling boom in Vietnamese property market

Hanoi

ENCOURAGED by an easing of real estate laws and a thriving economy, the Vietnamese diaspora is sending record homebound remittances and adding impetus to the property sector now undergoing a boom after emerging from the doldrums.

House and condominium buys - in cash - will bolster the market recovery just as the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) prepares to tighten criteria on domestic home loans to avoid a repeat of a painful 2011 collapse that left US$6 billion of unsold properties and banks crippled by bad debt.