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Influx of foreign capital raises Lao capital's property pricesdpa VIENTIANE -- Property prices in Vientiane rose up to 15 percent last year, bolstered by foreign-funded development projects and growing confidence in the economy, state media said Thursday.
February 8, 2013, 4:54 pm TWN Houmphan Sayalath, managing director of RentsBuy.com, a leading real estate agent, said land prices in town rose 10-15 percent and 50 percent along the Mekong River bank, the Vientiane Times reported. “There are a number of mega land development projects under way in Vientiane and this is making people feel more confident that the price of the land will continue to increase,” Houmphan said. The government last year gave the go-ahead for Chinese firms to develop several mega projects, and for a wetland development project by a Vietnamese firm, he said. The government also last year allowed foreigners who invest more than US$500,000 to own 800 square meters of residential and office land, which has further boosted property prices. Houmphan said land in Vientiane's prime locations such as along the Mekong River bank was going for US$3,000 per square meter, up from US$2,000 in 2011. Land-locked communist Laos boasted one of the highest economic growth rates last year, estimated at 8 percent by the Asia Development Bank, but is still ranked among the world's poorest countries by the United Nations.
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