Investments flowing into Vietnam's proptech start-ups

The application of proptech is increasingly popular, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. — VNS

HANOI (Vietnam News/Asia News Network): As a growing number of companies in the real estate industry are embracing technology to promote their sales since the pandemic, investments are flowing into proptech start-ups to capture the opportunity.

According to property services company Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Vietnam’s real estate industry was seeing an increasing wave in applying technology, most popular in residential and commercial sectors.

Proptech proved their advantages and efficiencies in promoting sales and increasing interactions between buyers and developers in the Covid-19 pandemic with social distancing measures in place.

JLL said that the Government should raise policies to create favourable conditions for the development of technology start-ups.

JLL pointed out that foreign-invested companies were dominating the proptech start-up ecosystem in Vietnam, accounting for 80 per cent of the total number of proptech firms.

Many proptech enterprises made their debuts from the beginning of this year.

In early April, an app named Đất Vàng Vietnam (Golden Land Vietnam) developed by Vietnam Golden Land Technology and Real Estate Investment Joint Stock Company debuted with an investment worth US$500,000 from SGROUP, which aimed to become an online real estate platform in the next three years incorporating technologies like GIS and 360-degree virtual tours.

Other proptech platforms recently launched were ECOE, Propcom, Gaapnow, Meey CRM and Meey Land.

According to FinREI Investment Joint Stock Company, a real estate technology start-up, there are more than 50 proptech companies operating in Vietnam, which are transforming how properties are developed, sold and managed.

Trần Văn Hào, technology director of Vietnam Golden Land Technology and Real Estate Investment Joint Stock Company, said the birth of real estate apps was inevitable and the trend would continue to flourish, powered by a young and tech savvy population.

“I think the race in applying technology in real estate will be really fierce in the near future,” Phạm Lâm, founder of DKRA Vietnam and Houze ecosystem, said at Houze Day Real Estate Technology Forum 2021 held in mid-December.

Statistics of Fintech Global showed that a sum worth $7.1 billion was poured into proptech globally as of the third quarter of 2021, 122 per cent higher than that of the full year of 2020.

According to Savills Vietnam, Vietnam’s real estate market would continue to grow, especially in major cities including Hanoi, HCM City and tourism cities. Savills predicted that there would be more investment flow into proptech to capture the opportunities as well as promote the market development.

The Vietnam Real Estate Association forecast that Vietnam’s property market would reach more than $1.23 trillion by 2030, accounting for 22 per cent of the economy’s total assets.