As technology develops and demand keeps increasing in the property sector, property technology, or proptech, will develop similarly to fintech, experts have said. Proptech has developed strongly in Vietnam with many start-ups being launched and attracting investment from major players and many services being developed to meet market demand.
According to a news report, there are certain reasons for the market’s rise: the country’s huge population, the problems it faces, which could be resolved by proptech, and the Vietnamese people’s ability to use technology. Experts predict that proptech will develop in a similar way to fintech, which is mostly based on how technology stacks are developed and evolve to resolve structural pain points and inefficiencies and positioned at the intersection of all market stakeholders.
An expert noted that the trendsetters and growth drivers will be companies that create and offer disruptive solutions that optimise and aggregate resources and financing, improve industry standards and customer experiences, and ensure transparency and data security. The growth of the market has been attributed to the strong economy, accelerating urbanisation, and rising incomes which continue to drive demand in the property market.
Hundreds of proptech start-ups and traditional real state firms are aiming to leverage technology to improve their operations and competitive edge by providing effective solutions to enhance home buying, selling, renting, and living experiences. Some of the famous apps and proptech products in the market include Saas, Propzy, Go2Joy Vietnam, Citics, Homebase, and A.Plus Home. They have successfully raised capital from foreign investors. For instance, Propzy, a leader in the proptech industry and provides transparent online property services, raised US$37 million.
Speaking about the reasons for investing in proptech, the senior investment manager at VinaCapital Ventures explained that the organisation has been monitoring the development of the proptech sector and see its enormous potential, given the continuing growth of the real estate market and increasing digitisation trends. VinaCapital’s first investment in the sector was in Rever, which has built infrastructure to make the transaction process smoother. Its solution has outpaced the industry’s benchmarks related to data accuracy, the number of days a property is on the market, and agent efficiency ratio.
Firms are investing in proptech companies because they possess operational know-how blended with superior technology stacks that aim to serve homebuyers throughout the transaction journey, from screening and touring properties, conducting legal checks, arranging financing and related paperwork that comes with owning a home. These services are provided affordably and transparently, enabling these companies to provide a higher level of customer service. Another technology in the field is Propzy Vietnam’s SAM, which allows the sales team to be connected, engage with one another, and collaborate to get the best outcome possible, which is a real estate transaction from buyer to seller. It has ensured certain business processes that otherwise could not have been done because it is not possible to manually get 300 salespeople to collaborate.
The participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam in the digital transformation process could contribute US$24-30 billion to the country’s GDP by 2024, and significantly help with post-pandemic recovery. According to the Vietnam Logistics Association, 50%-60% of logistics enterprises are applying technology in their operations.