At Funda we love to share what we’re working on and what we learn along the way. To look back on 2025, we asked our product and engineering colleagues a simple question: what stood out to you this year? Their answers paint a clear picture of the progress we made: in our products, our platform and our way of working. Below we share those highlights, in their own words.
1. Funda Desk 2.0: from vision to everyday value
‘Agents can now handle their full workflow in Funda Desk 2.0’
Pálma (Product Manager): ‘A major highlight this year was seeing Funda Desk 2.0, our new 'back office' for agents, reach a point where agents can genuinely handle their complete daily work in it. That’s a huge milestone.
What also stood out was how much better our collaboration has become across the agent scrum teams. Our improvements in sizing, planning and delivery helped keep the scope healthy and actually stay within timelines.’
‘A publication flow that saves agents 60% of their time’
Cassio (Product Manager): ‘I’m especially proud of the new publication and media enrichment flow in Funda Desk 2.0. Agents are now saving around 60% of their time when publishing. That’s a very real improvement for people who do this every day.’
‘The reception from agents was incredible’
Naomi (Data Analyst): ‘Funda Desk 2.0 is definitely my highlight. The reception from agents has been great. I also loved the collaboration between marketing and product, resulting in delivering more features and ahead of schedule.
‘It was also great to see new teams like Nieuwbouw and Partnerships take shape and start delivering real value.’
‘Aligning direction, capacity and goals – and making it work’
Matheus (Lead Backend Engineering): ‘My highlight was ensuring direction, plans, capacity and goals across Funda Desk 2.0. It’s a massive effort that only works when everyone pulls in the same direction.’
2. A better map & search experience: improvements users feel
‘Rewriting search on the map while the plane was flying’
Ariadine (Frontend Engineer): ‘The rewrite of our map search feature was huge. It really felt like changing the engines while the airplane is flying. It was complex, but the payoff was worth it: users now get a faster, clearer way to search, and we gained a far more flexible foundation.’
‘A meaningful solution with immediate positive feedback’
Hans (Product Manager): ‘The ‘draw on map’ feature really stands out. It solved a genuine user problem and the feedback has been extremely positive. A major improvement this year is that we can now launch quick experiments without interrupting the main experience.’
‘A modern, scalable map that helps buyers, sellers and teams’
Zishan (Frontend Engineer): ‘We made improvements that genuinely moved the map experience forward – showing prices in markers, boosting performance, and making the whole system more scalable.
Buyers now get a richer, more modern map; sellers have more ways to present their homes; and Product Development has more freedom to innovate.’
3. Modernising core systems: invisible work with huge impact
‘A modernised Favourites flow that is flexible and reliable’
Melvin (Backend Engineer): ‘I’m proud of how we modernised our emails notifying users about changes to their favourite houses. The underlying system is now much more flexible and reliable.
A/B testing and solid data collection helped us not only improve new features but also iterate on existing ones.’
‘Rebuilding our calculation tool’
Lars (Frontend Engineer): ‘Rebuilding our calculation tool was a big highlight. Moving away from iframe means we own – and can truly improve – the experience end-to-end.’
‘A more stable Vraagscan that can handle market volatility’
Edwin (Lead Data): ‘Reimplementing the Vraagscan back-end, a feature providing agents with data-driven insights into demand, was a highlight. It’s now more stable across different market situations and no longer dependent on cookie acceptance.
And honestly: every day is a highlight when I’m discussing solutions with my bright and motivated team.’
4. Architecture and consistency: earlier investments paying off
‘We could really feel the Lighthouse payoff’
Ariadine (Frontend Engineer): ‘This year we could truly feel the payoff of our lighthouse architecture. Things that used to be slow or complex suddenly became clearer and easier to build.’
‘When teams align, the impact compounds’
Levi (Product Designer): ‘A big highlight for me was contributing to a more consistent and modern Funda. When teams align around a shared direction, the impact genuinely compounds.’
5. Exploring AI: grounded, practical and promising
‘We learned what users truly expect from AI in Search’
Zishan (Frontend Engineer): ‘Through multiple AI experiments we learned what users actually expect from AI in the search experience. It gives us a solid foundation to build on next year.’
‘AI helps a lot — but not for everything’
Ariadine (Frontend Engineer): ‘AI can really help, but 2025 taught us that it’s not good for everything. Understanding when not to use AI is just as important as knowing when it adds value.’
‘Set expectations clearly when using AI’
Naomi (Data Analyst): ‘Working with AI made it clear how important it is to set expectations carefully — both internally and externally. Clarity matters even more when the technology is new.’
‘AI is entering our workflows too’
Melvin (Backend Engineer): ‘We’re increasingly integrating AI into our workflow. It’s early, but you can already feel its potential to speed things up.’
Cheers to another great year
Looking back, 2025 was a year defined not just by what we built, but by how we built it together. We matured Funda Desk 2.0 into a daily tool for agents, improved the map and search experience in ways users immediately feel, modernised essential systems and saw major architectural investments start to pay off.
We experimented smarter, validated earlier, explored AI with a grounded mindset and strengthened collaboration across teams. At Funda, we believe in sharing our craft: our wins, our lessons and the thinking behind our work. Here’s to carrying that momentum into 2026, and to another year of building great things together.
Question?
Do you have a burning question for one of our colleagues after reading this blog? Feel free to reach out to us via email.