According to experts, issuing identification codes for real estate will help improve market transparency and make governance more convenient. However, the risk of inaccuracies during data entry remains a significant concern.

Government Decree 357/2025/ND-CP on building and managing the information system and database on housing and the real estate market has recently been issued, and will take effect from March 1.

Under the decree, each real estate product-such as a standalone house, a condominium apartment, or a construction work-will be assigned an electronic identification code.

Provincial-level People’s Committees are responsible for collecting and standardizing data, and for uploading it to the information system and database on housing and the real estate market. The system is managed by the Ministry of Construction.

Speaking about electronic identification codes for real estate, Tran Khanh Quang, CEO of Viet An Hoa Real Estate Investment JSC, said the move is akin to issuing a “birth certificate” for each property.

According to Quang, assigning identification codes will help state agencies manage transaction processes, while also serving as an early step toward market transparency. Identification makes it possible to clearly determine where a property is located and what its area is.

On the benefits of property identification, Quang said the first advantage is helping eliminate legal ambiguity-widely seen as the biggest risk that makes many homebuyers uneasy.

Once a property is assigned an identification code, people will be able to easily look up essential information such as planning details or transaction history. This level of transparency could, to some extent, weed out “ghost projects” and protect buyers from fraud risks.

“This is important foundational data for state management agencies to issue timely policies to regulate the market. In addition, it could also serve as a basis for considering taxation from the second property onward,” the real estate expert said.

From a legal perspective, lawyer Nguyen Dang Tu of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association said it is necessary first to clarify the legal nature of the property identification code. It is a technical tool for identifying and managing asset information in the digital environment, not a basis for establishing ownership or land-use rights.

If this is not clearly stipulated in law, misunderstandings could easily arise, leading individuals or organizations to confuse the value of data management with the legal value of property rights.

According to Nguyen Dang Tu, the next issue is data accuracy and synchronization. Legal responsibility when electronic data is incorrect is also a major unanswered question.

“In cases where people rely on information from the identification system to conduct transactions and later suffer losses, who will be responsible-the data management authority, the system operator, or the user?” he asked.

Anh Phuong