Buying a landed property in Vietnam

It depends how much you know about the law.
Base on my reliable sources, I suggest you to wait at least until the end of this year to make decision. Don't worry! Land's price won't be raised up higher that fast.

I thought all land is government owned... you can lease your house on government land.

If you are not Vietnamese, you CANNOT own land. Forget it. You can only buy apartments and for 50 years only..

Wait until after 1 July, when the National Assembly is set to change the law to allow foreigners to more easily buy land.  Over the past ten years the government has from time to time announced that "Foreigners may now buy land in Vietnam", but there are so many restrictions that very, very few foreigners actually were able to do so.  So wait until after 1 July 2015 and see what has changed then.

They opened up apartment buying for foreigners with more than 3 month visas. No houses and no land.

They are supposedly allowing 100 year LEASE. , ie a 50 year lease renewable for another 50. A foreigner is able to buy 250 houses in a ward, and 30% of condos in a building.  BUT it's only a LEASE.  Even the vIetnamese NO NOT OWN the land their houses are on.  They have an LUR , a land use right. You "own" what's constructed on the land, that's it.

Remember who your dealing with.  This place is rotten to the core with corruption and Lie Cheat & steal is the mantra.   Have a look at recent analysts predictions for emerging economies. Some of the smart money is pulling out.  Prices are ridiculously high for what you get. Infrastructure is poor, laws and policy are made on the "run" . You could have it pulled out from under you with the stroke of a pen.

A lot of BIg foreign developers have been shafted recently.  They paid big bucks for licences and permits and then the "authorities" back flipped on the deal. 

Another thing .  The smart foreign money that's invested here is usually from the following.
Tax payers money....used in joint govt infrastructure contracts.
Shareholders money......used by the multi nationals
banks money.....used by joint developers
Private equity......used my savvy entrepreneurs.

When the deal turns to crap, those guys walk away with not a lot to lose.

If your the "little guy" using your life savings........good luck.

Just sit back and wait for a " crash test dummies" to test the procedures for hidden traps.

I've read that currently their is NO absentee ownership. You have to have a visa or residence card to have property.  What happens if they decide not to renew your vIsa ?????.   If your no longer in the country that's a problem.  I've also read that if you are refused renewal OR kicked out for any reason, you have 90 days to sell it, and then you,have the problem of getting the money out of the country.

There are also issues with foreign inheritance. At the moment a foreigner can't inherit property here.

Again, laws here are either not observed or poorly interpreted.  What's written in Hanoi can mean very little to the local authorities.  Seriously, some of these guys don't even know mans been to the moon. I've asked .

I've looked at the idea of buying and the Pros and Cons. The downside far outweighs the upside.
I've known guys here that have built and the stress of dealing with idiots took years off their lives.

The OP wants to buy land for a long term investment.   This region is too politically and economically volatile. There are countries in Asia that are revoking the deeds of foreign purchased property already, Thailand for example.  In Bali they have started that nonsense already.

You also have got to consider the Capital Gains TAX.   It's vicious on foreigners here.  If the OP thinks he can come in , buy a cheap block of dirt and roll it over for a handsome profit and walk out of the country with the cash ............ha ha ha ha  . They'll apply laws that aren't written yet to scupper that plan.    Sure, you'll get something out of it, but the locals will get the lions share.

So just sit back, lease a nice apartment with ocean views , have a cold beer and pay bugger all for it.