20 years ago, looking to buy a house or land often started with advertisements in newspapers, asking acquaintances, brokers or survey trips through many areas. Today, with just a few taps on the phone, buyers can access millions of listings, track price fluctuations and compare project locations on digital maps.
According to DataReportal's Digital 2026 report, Vietnam has about 85.6 million Internet users, equivalent to 84.2% of the population, as of October 2025. The popularity of the Internet contributes to changing the way people access information.
Ms. Huong Giang, 32 years old, a Pilates instructor in Ho Chi Minh City, also looked to buy an apartment this way. Instead of spending days surveying each project, she opened Batdongsan.com.vn, delineated the area she wanted to live in on the map, chose the appropriate price range and then compared the price and amenities of each option. From hundreds of postings, she gradually narrowed the list to a few apartments that fit her needs, financial ability and potential for renting apartments in Ho Chi Minh City to create cash flow.
The change in search behavior also reflects the development of real estate technology in Vietnam. Over the past two decades, Batdongsan (PropertyGuru Vietnam) has expanded its role from a real estate listing portal to a data integration platform and tools to support users in searching, evaluating and making decisions.
Batdongsan was born in 2006, when the Internet in Vietnam was just starting to become popular and searching for real estate still relied mainly on newspapers, brokers or acquaintances. At that time, the platform was built with the goal of digitizing real estate information, creating a connection channel between buyers, sellers and brokers in the online environment.
Two decades later, along with the development of the market, the needs of buyers have also changed. If in the past they needed more options, now as the amount of information is increasingly large, what matters are reasonable prices, reliable sources and enough data to make decisions.
According to Mr. Bach Duong, General Director of Batdongsan (PropertyGuru Vietnam), a platform can only develop sustainably when it creates value for all market participants.
Responding to that trend, Batdongsan expanded its role from a news portal to a technology platform. In 2018, the business joined PropertyGuru, the leading real estate technology group in Southeast Asia, thereby strengthening its technology, data and management resources.
At the end of 2024, PropertyGuru enters a new journey with the companionship of EQT Private Capital Asia, part of EQT - a global investment organization headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, opening up resources for long-term investments in technology and data.
In 2026, Kantar confirmed Batdongsan as the No. 1 real estate technology platform in Vietnam in the minds of users. Last June, the platform continued to be honored by the Vietnam Real Estate Brokers Association as the Leading Unit in Developing Technology Platforms for real estate brokers and customers.
Batdongsan began publishing market data periodically and organizing the annual Vietnam Real Estate Conference (VRES) since 2014. According to the business, data accumulated from search and posting activities gradually becomes a reference source for buyers, brokers and businesses to monitor market developments.
Forecasts from Batdongsan have been repeatedly verified by the actual market. By the end of 2023, Batdongsan experts predict that apartments will lead the recovery process from the first half of 2024 thanks to real housing demand and the ability to generate cash flow. In 2024, apartments become the focus of search.
In early 2024, the platform also forecasts that the market may have a "reversing point" between the first and third quarter of 2024 before recovering more clearly. By the third quarter, many segments recorded positive changes. In the first 10 months of 2024, searches for real estate for sale on Batdongsan increased by 22%, and the number of postings increased by 13% compared to the same period in 2023.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh, Deputy General Director and Business Director of Batdongsan, said the value of data is in its ability to provide additional basis for market participants to identify trends and make decisions.
As the amount of information on the market increases, the buyer's problem is no longer finding many options, but finding the right choice. Besides selling price, they are increasingly interested in historical price fluctuations, planning, infrastructure, legality and factors that can affect real estate value in the long term.
This trend is also reflected in Batdongsan's second quarter 2026 brokerage survey. Accordingly, 67% of respondents said that planning has a big or very big impact on market developments, while 91% said customers are willing to pay more to own real estate near key infrastructure projects. This shows that home buying decisions are increasingly based on synthesizing and comparing multiple layers of information, instead of just looking at selling price or location.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Thu, a construction engineer in Ho Chi Minh City, Batdongsan is one of the platforms he often uses when researching the market. He said the Price History feature helps track the price evolution of a real estate property over time, while the Real Estate Map allows observing the project location in relation to schools, hospitals, transportation systems and surrounding amenities. Thanks to that, buyers have more basis to evaluate the price level, potential of the area and the suitability of each option before deciding to go for an actual viewing.
Not only does it support searching, technology also helps increase information transparency. According to the business, interest in Verified News reached an all-time high in the second quarter of 2026, reflecting the trend of buyers prioritizing verified information before contacting or transacting. To meet this need, businesses develop Authentic Stories and Video Listings, adding an additional layer of verification of legal records, real estate images and videos.
These tools also benefit sellers and brokers. Mr. Phan Van Dien, a broker in Ho Chi Minh City, said about 70% of his customers come from Batdongsan, in which Authentic News helps improve the quality of customers approached. Meanwhile, Mr. Vo Quoc Dat, operating in the real estate rental segment in Ho Chi Minh City with more than 100 rooms for rent, said the platform helps shorten the time to find customers and limit vacant rooms.
After two decades of development, Batdongsan (PropertyGuru Vietnam) said the goal is no longer just providing search results. According to Mr. Bach Duong, user behavior is shifting from "search and filter" to "ask and be answered". Instead of setting many criteria about location, area or price, users tend to directly describe their needs, such as looking for a two-bedroom apartment under 5 billion VND, close to school, quiet and convenient to move to work.
Batdongsan aims to develop AI in the direction of accompanying users throughout the process of searching and owning real estate. Besides supporting product selection, AI can combine market data, project comparison tools and professional broker networks to provide additional reference information at each decision-making stage.
