AIAIG Overseas Real Estate Investment Weekly Report｜2025 Week 47 (Part 1): Latest Real Estate Policies and Overseas Home Buying Information in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Dubai

This issue is the AIAIG Overseas Real Estate Investment Weekly Report for Week 47 of 2025 (Part 1: Policy Focus), with the statistical period from November 17 to November 23, 2025.

In the past week, there were not many concentrated additions of "hard policies" highly relevant to overseas real estate investment, but several drafts and regulations released in early November have entered a more detailed market interpretation phase:

• In Vietnam, the "Resolution on Real Estate Price and Transaction Management (Draft)" regarding curbing housing prices, tightening second-home loans, and mandating affordable housing construction continues to develop, combined with the latest 2025 property tax system analysis, reshaping the cost structure for foreign and local homebuyers.
• In Japan, following the first ministerial meeting on "foreigner policies" by the Takachi Cabinet, various media and think tanks have interpreted land regulation, homestay, and tourism management, with the focus remaining on "regional classification and usage regulation" rather than simple purchase bans.
• In Dubai and DIFC (Dubai International Financial Center), the public consultation period for the revision of the "Real Estate Law and Its Implementation Rules" is still ongoing in November, with details such as lease registration penalties and caveat cancellation fee adjustments being compiled into operational guidelines by law firms and institutions.

This weekly report will systematically organize the latest policy developments and market interpretations around the above focal points this week, and supplement the ongoing housing governance policies in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia in 2025, discussing their long-term impacts on overseas homebuyers.

After the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam announced the "Government Resolution on Strengthening Market Regulation and Stabilizing Real Estate Prices (Draft)" in early November, several law firms and research institutions released more detailed interpretation reports this week. The draft is set to take effect from the date of signing, with a provisional validity period until March 1, 2027. Its core remains using the three-pronged approach of "transparent price information + credit leverage management + affordable housing construction" to put the brakes on the overheated housing prices in first- and second-tier cities over the past few years.

Compared to the general media reports earlier, this week's professional interpretations focus more on the implementation level:

• The official real estate transaction center will be integrated with the existing real estate registration system, becoming the "sole entry point" for contract filing, price declaration, and tax calculation, further reducing the room for developers and intermediaries to bypass the filing system through "dual contracts."
• The maximum loan-to-value ratios for second and third homes (50% and 30% of the contract price, respectively) will not only apply to local residents but also to a significant portion of foreign borrowing and local bank combination schemes, making the "high leverage, multiple properties" model significantly less attractive.
• The requirements for "affordable commercial housing" construction are explicitly linked to land transfer and planning approval—failure to meet a certain proportion of construction will make it difficult to obtain land or full development rights, and large-scale integrated community projects will be forced to take on more responsibilities for "price-suppressing housing."

This means that the structure of new projects in Vietnam will increasingly tilt towards rigid demand and mid-range housing, while high-end investment projects will either reduce in volume or shift towards clearer rental and operational logic.

Japan's first "Ministerial Meeting on Foreign Nationals Policy" held in early November continues to gain attention this week, with multiple media outlets and opinion pieces discussing under the theme "Will restrictions be imposed on foreigners buying property?"

From the currently available information, the cabinet's work priorities include three areas:

• Strengthening crackdowns on foreigners who overstay long-term but fail to fulfill residency obligations and social insurance payment obligations.
• Enhancing monitoring of foreigners purchasing land in Japan, particularly in sensitive areas such as near Self-Defense Force bases, water sources, and properties used for homestays and short-term rentals in tourist hotspots.
• Planning to present a comprehensive reform package by January 2026 to revise and integrate existing relevant regulations.

Regarding the market concern of "whether buying property in Japan will be banned," the Japanese government and professional institutions have recently consistently stated that there is currently no, nor are there plans to introduce, a nationwide ban on property purchases. Foreigners (including non-residents) can still buy land and buildings in Japan, but in the future, "where to buy and what to use it for" will be more regulated than "whether it can be bought."

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) released the 'Consultation Paper on Amendments to the Real Estate Law and Implementing Regulations' at the end of October, extending the consultation period until November 30, 2025. This week, several law firms provided clearer interpretations of the key amendment points for developers and institutional investors to reference.

If based on the current consultation text, the key amendment points include:

• Introducing penalty clauses for 'unregistered leases' to urge property owners and tenants to register lease relationships promptly in the official system;
• Removing certain administrative fees related to the cancellation of caveats (property notice registrations) to encourage the market to update encumbrance information more actively;
• Clarifying registration details for certain common property and long-term lease rights, making the structure of real estate interests more standardized, which is beneficial for subsequent financing and asset securitization.

Outside the DIFC area, Dubai's overall real estate regulatory framework is also maturing by 2025: escrow accounts for home purchase funds, a unified lease contract registration system, rent increase guidelines, developer qualification management, and anti-money laundering compliance requirements form a relatively clear set of 'rules of the game' for overseas investors.

Although no new laws were introduced this week, certain policies in Malaysia and Indonesia for 2025 still determine the current and future market structure:

• Malaysia has confirmed that starting in 2026, the stamp duty for foreign buyers purchasing property will be uniformly increased to approximately 8%. Through housing reform plans, it aims to clear all stalled construction projects by 2030 and strengthen supervision over developers' funds and project progress.
• Indonesia, by continuing the policy of 'the government bearing part of the housing value-added tax,' continues to support middle-class self-owned housing projects with relatively low total prices. Combined with central bank interest rate cuts, it uses both monetary and fiscal tools to support the real estate and construction industries.

From the perspective of overseas buyers, both countries are using a combination of 'tax burdens, credit, and developer supervision' to shift resources towards sectors with rigid demand, self-occupancy, and stable long-term supply, while raising barriers for highly leveraged, short-term speculative funds.

In Europe, discussions surrounding "housing affordability" and "short-term rental platform regulation" continue to unfold this week. At the EU level, the first pan-European housing affordability action plan is expected to be officially launched by the end of 2025, with approaches including:

• Encouraging member states to provide more financial support and tax incentives for affordable and mid-to-low-priced housing;
• Restricting excessive tourism and short-term rentals from crowding out long-term rental markets in hotspot cities, while allowing member states more flexible regulation of short-term rental platforms;
• Enhancing the visibility of risks brought by large cross-border capital inflows through data and regulatory cooperation at the EU level.

Although this differs from the direct policy environments in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Dubai, it holds significant reference value for "how global capital is being reallocated among residential properties, hotels, apartments, and short-term rentals" and will also affect the asset allocation decisions of some cross-regional investors.

In summary, Week 47 of 2025 was not a week of "frequent policy releases," but several main trends are gradually becoming clear:

• Vietnam is guiding the market from high-leverage speculation to "transparent pricing + affordable housing" through draft laws and tax systems;
• Japan's focus has shifted from "whether to ban foreigners from buying property" to "how to draw lines and implement classified regulation";
• Dubai and DIFC continue to solidify their rule advantages as regional financial and real estate centers at the legal level;
• Malaysia and Indonesia are steadily advancing "housing and tax policies that favor rigid demand";
• The EU is brewing stricter regulatory frameworks for housing affordability and short-term rental platforms.

These changes themselves may not immediately alter the rise or fall of a project, but they will determine which cities and products are more likely to receive policy dividends in the next 3–5 years, and will also force overseas investors to shift their decision-making from "pure price" to comparisons based on "institutional and regulatory frameworks."