Recently, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urgently directed the pilot operation of a cryptocurrency exchange, and at the same time established a Real Estate and Land Use Rights Trading Center managed by the State, with the goal of deployment in February 2026. This is considered one of the strong moves, clearly showing the Government's determination to restructure and transparentize the real estate market - a sector with a large spillover effect on macroeconomic stability and social security.
With the role of a unit directly participating and accompanying the Ministry of Construction in the process of researching and completing the Pilot Project of the Real Estate and Land Use Rights Trading Center model managed by the State, the Vietnam Real Estate Market Evaluation Research Institute (VARS IRE) believes that this is a correct policy, in line with the trend of real estate market management in many countries around the world.
Accordingly, in many countries such as the US, UK, Japan, South Korea or China, real estate transaction activities are placed in a centralized, transparent management ecosystem, with unified data and high digitalization processes.
In particular, the model of a centralized real estate transaction center managed by the State in China is a typical example. Observing reality shows that Chinese people can complete all real estate transfer procedures, from receiving dossiers, legal verification, tax declaration to issuing certificates, in less than two hours, with a clear, transparent process and very convenient experience.
These transaction centers play a "core axis" of the market, directly connected to the consolidated real estate database system nationwide. Meanwhile, private exchanges and brokerage companies play a satellite role, creating a balanced ecosystem between State management and market operation, ensuring three core elements: Safety - Efficiency - Quality.
Lawyer Pham Thanh Tuan - a legal expert in the field of real estate - assessed that transactions related to real estate and land use rights in Vietnam are still cumbersome, must go through many stages and be resolved by many different agencies. This process stretches from legal inspection, contract notarization, payment implementation, tax obligations to the stage of issuing Certificates and registering changes.
From that reality, lawyer Pham Thanh Tuan believes that the establishment of a Real Estate and Land Use Rights Trading Center managed by the State is necessary. This center will create conditions for people and businesses to synchronously perform transaction steps such as information lookup, contract signing, tax payment and Certificate issuance on the same system. According to him, this model not only helps improve the efficiency of state management but also increases publicity, transparency and limits risks in transactions.
Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors, said that the establishment of the Real Estate Trading Center will help transparentize the entire transaction process. All information related to real estate, from legal issues, prices, mortgage status, transaction restrictions... are standardized and publicized, contributing to preventing fraud and protecting the legitimate rights of people and businesses. The transaction center will become a focal point for market data, helping management agencies closely monitor supply and demand developments, prices, and promptly detect abnormal signs such as speculation, price inflation, market manipulation to have appropriate regulatory measures.
One of the prerequisites for forming a real estate transaction center is that the real estate database must meet the criteria "right - sufficient - clean - living". This is also the content that the Government is focusing on directing, associated with the completion of the real estate identification system. In fact, the data of each real estate not only stops at basic descriptive information but also includes the entire legal history, dispute status, mortgage, transaction restriction and transactions throughout the life cycle of assets. Therefore, completing this full database is a complex process, difficult to complete in a short time.
However, with the spirit of drastic and synchronous implementation from the Central to local levels, along with close coordination between management agencies, tax authorities, banks, notary systems and related organizations, this goal is completely achievable in the medium and long term" - Mr. Dinh assessed.
Real estate businesses change their mindset to develop
Stepping into 2026, real estate businesses need to adjust their strategies in a cautious, sustainable and close-to-market direction.
From a macroeconomic perspective, Dr. Can Van Luc - Chief Economist of BIDV - said that 2025 marks a remarkable turning point for the market, not only in trading activities but also in its role in economic growth. Citing data from the Statistics Office, Dr. Luc said that the construction sector increased by 9.62% in 2025, higher than the general GDP growth rate of the whole country of 8.02%. The GDP of the real estate sector alone reached an increase of 4.63%, the highest in the last 6 years.
Notably, real estate business investment contributes about 3.5% of GDP, while construction contributes up to 6.13%. According to Dr. Luc, these figures clearly reflect the spillover role of real estate for many related industries, from building materials, finance - banking to labor and consumption.
However, Dr. Luc also frankly said that the profits of real estate businesses are still not commensurate with the recovery rate, due to high capital costs, legal pressure and not really strong purchasing power. Another positive signal is that market confidence is gradually returning when in 2025 it recorded about 2,700 newly established real estate businesses, an increase of 27% compared to the previous year - a rare increase after many years of the market almost "freezing" in the number of businesses joining.
Faced with the new context, Dr. Can Van Luc recommends that real estate businesses need to change their development thinking. According to him, scattered investment, implementing 10-15 projects at the same time while cash flow is limited will pose great risks if the market fluctuates. Businesses need to closely follow policies, proactively forecast interest rates, costs and demand, instead of relying on "money pumping" cycles as before.
Regarding product structure, Dr. Luc emphasized that supply-demand mismatch is still a major problem for the market. The high-end segment needs to be carefully considered, while mid-range housing, social housing and affordable housing are still seriously lacking. He believes that real estate prices have formed a new level in the past 2-3 years and are difficult to fall deeply, so market regulation needs to be based on three pillars including increasing appropriate supply, using flexible fiscal policy and operating prudent monetary policy.
The biggest challenge today is finding a balance between risk control and maintaining market stability, because real estate is still an important pillar of the economy," Dr. Can Van Luc emphasized.
Luc Giang
