Over 20 percent of Ho Chi Minh City’s inward remittance was poured into the property market in January-November.

All credit institutions in the city received US$4.76 billion in remittances in the first 11 months of 2015, Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper reported, quoting Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam.

About 21.6 percent of that amount, or $1 billion, was channeled into real estate, a year-on-year spike of 0.8 percent, Minh said.

Overseas money remitted to Ho Chi Minh City is expected to top $5.5 billion at the end of the year, according to the deputy director.

If the city’s realty sector continues to receive the same percentage of 21.6, the remittance wired to the property market is projected to reach $1.2 billion, he added.

Remittances directed to real estate are forecast to surge in the future as the amended housing law will encourage Vietnamese in Australia, the United States, and the UK to resettle in Vietnam as well as make it easier for foreigners to buy houses in the Southeast Asian country, Minh was quoted by Thanh Nien as saying.

Vietnam received a total inward remittance of $12.248 billion in 2015, the World Bank said in the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016 report. 

The nation is the 11th biggest remittance recipient worldwide and ranks third in the Asia Pacific region, following China and the Philippines, the organization added.

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