Vietnam’s growing demand for US property

A report by the US National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed that between April 2016 and March 2017, Vietnamese buyers purchased approximately 5,689 residential properties in the US, roughly double of the previous 12-months period.

According to the NAR report, it is estimated that Vietnamese buyers spent up to $3 billion on residential properties in the US in 2017. The amount of property purchases made by Vietnamese nationals has been on the rise since 2012-2013. The report also indicates that Vietnamese buyers tend to favour properties in California, Florida, and Texas.

Explaining why Vietnamese people are buying more property in the US, some real estate experts say that in addition to increasing demand, housing prices in markets like the US and Australia are considered fairly affordable to the fast-growing upper-middle class of Vietnam.

PricewaterhouseCoopers placed Vietnam among the fastest growing economies in the world, and according to The Wealth Report 2017 by Knight Frank, Vietnam’s ultra-wealthy population has the highest growth rate in the world.

The fast-growing economy also attracts international real estate companies which give Vietnamese better access to foreign real estate markets. The increasing income also allows middle and upper-class Vietnamese to buy into what they believe a safer and more secure place to live, work, and invest.

Vietnam's population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals has the highest growth rate in the world. Source: Knight Frank

Vietnamese nationals buying properties in foreign countries, particularly the US, is not a new development. In recent years, many members of the Vietnamese upper-class have been known to buy luxury properties in the US. They include many entrepreneurs and high-profile stars, such as singer Bang Kieu, Dang Truong, Thanh Thao, and comedian Thuy Nga, among others.

Most notable in this list is businessman Pham Dinh Nguyen, who owns the town of Buford, Wyoming, the smallest town in the US. Nguyen, founder and CEO of PhinDeli Coffee, purchased the town in 2013 for $900,000 and renamed it PhinDeli Town Buford in order to promote his Vietnamese coffee brand in the US.