Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – US real estate developers are turningto a new, fast-growing source of cheap capital known as EB-5 from Vietnam, reportedthe Wall Street Journal on March 5.
The Southeast Asian country is rapidly gaining on China as oneof the biggest participants in the foreign-investment initiative. The programmeoffers green cards in return for investing in job-creating US businesses orreal-estate projects.
About 20 percent of EB-5 investment in American real estate now comes fromVietnam, putting it behind just India’s 25 percent and China’s 30 percent, accordingto the journal.
Vietnamese nationals received 693 EB-5 visas last fiscal year, an increase from471 in 2017, it said.
Developers advertising their projects to Vietnamese investors including RelatedCompanies, which is looking for 380 million USD for the third phase of itsHudson Yards development, and Extell Development, which is seeking investorsfor its Times Squares Hard Rock Hotel project.
The journal quoted immigration attorney Phuong Lee as saying “In the past, anylarge-scale capital raise, anything over 50 million USD or 100 million USD,particularly in New York, you had to go to China. But most of the big New Yorkreal estate developers who were in China before are certainly all in Vietnamnow.”
However, despite Vietnam’s growing interest in EB-5, overall investment volumehas still dropped significantly, and the country’s estimated wait time for thanseven years for a visa could eventually become a problem, it noted.-VNA
The Southeast Asian country is rapidly gaining on China as oneof the biggest participants in the foreign-investment initiative. The programmeoffers green cards in return for investing in job-creating US businesses orreal-estate projects.
About 20 percent of EB-5 investment in American real estate now comes fromVietnam, putting it behind just India’s 25 percent and China’s 30 percent, accordingto the journal.
Vietnamese nationals received 693 EB-5 visas last fiscal year, an increase from471 in 2017, it said.
Developers advertising their projects to Vietnamese investors including RelatedCompanies, which is looking for 380 million USD for the third phase of itsHudson Yards development, and Extell Development, which is seeking investorsfor its Times Squares Hard Rock Hotel project.
The journal quoted immigration attorney Phuong Lee as saying “In the past, anylarge-scale capital raise, anything over 50 million USD or 100 million USD,particularly in New York, you had to go to China. But most of the big New Yorkreal estate developers who were in China before are certainly all in Vietnamnow.”
However, despite Vietnam’s growing interest in EB-5, overall investment volumehas still dropped significantly, and the country’s estimated wait time for thanseven years for a visa could eventually become a problem, it noted.-VNA
VNA
