Citizens at a land registration office in Hà Nội. — VGP Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is taking a decisive step towards modernising its property market, with a new regulation assigning a unique electronic identification code to each real estate asset, replacing traditional paper-based records and promising greater transparency.

The regulation is stated in the Decree No. 357/2025/NĐ-CP on building and managing the housing and real estate information system which has taken effect on March 1, 2026. Even before it comes into force, the policy has already begun to influence the real estate market in early 2026.

Many market participants have welcomed the move, saying it will improve access to accurate information and make the real estate market clearer and more accountable.

Nguyễn Đạt Trọng Hiếu, a real estate broker in Hà Nội, said assigning identification codes to properties would help prevent the same home from being sold to multiple buyers. The system would also allow authorities to monitor and manage the market in near real time rather than relying mainly on post-checks through land-use right certificates as in the past.

He added that linking property IDs with electronic contracts could help authorities track cash flows and limit price manipulation driven by rumours and false information.

According to Nguyễn Văn Đính, PhD, vice chairman of the Việt Nam Real Estate Association, long-standing legal gaps in the real estate market have allowed some individuals and organisations to exploit unclear regulations for personal gain. In this context, electronic identification for real estate is seen as an important step in the digital transformation of the housing and property market, meeting new management requirements.

Property IDs can be understood in a similar way to citizen ID numbers. Each house or land plot is a high-value asset that can affect the wider economy, so buyers need clear and reliable information to protect their legitimate interests.

Đính said the policy goes beyond identifying individual properties, as it forms part of a broader real estate market database. Greater transparency makes speculation more difficult by exposing practices such as hoarding to create artificial scarcity and push up prices. It also helps limit virtual sales and fake supply-demand signals when developers or investors hold back properties without completing legal procedures.

Implementation challenges

Despite its benefits, building and operating a unified real estate information system still faces many challenges, including legal, technical and organisational issues, Đính said.

He stressed that real estate data transparency must be linked with the national digital transformation process. Property data should be connected with other national databases such as land, population, business registration, tax and credit. Using digital technology, artificial intelligence and big data would help provide online public services and simplify administrative procedures.

Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Đặng Hùng Võ said related laws, including those on land, notarisation and identification, also need reform. If data are digitised but paper documents are still required, the reform will not be effective and may even create new complications.

People will only benefit clearly if electronic property identification goes together with real changes in administrative procedures, he said. If transactions such as transfers or inheritance still require paper files and long waiting times, the impact will be limited.

Nguyễn Anh Quê, chairman of the G6 Group and a member of the executive board of the Việt Nam Real Estate Association, said real estate databases cannot operate on their own. To be effective, they must be linked with tax, banking and notarisation systems.

This would allow management to go beyond identifying ownership towards clarifying the source of funds used in real estate transactions, helping to reduce speculation and nominee ownership. — VNS