Real estate brokerage businesses reeling under pressure

Alliances to distribute shopping carts, instead of running ads on social networks, going out to the streets to distribute flyers to reach customers... are ways brokerage businesses are trying to deal with the pressure.

Customer trading behavior has changed, forcing brokers to adapt. Photo : Gia Huy

Back to the old way

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Sales Director of Tran Anh Real Estate Group Joint Stock Company, said that 2023 witnessed a change in customer trading behavior, with many brokers having to leave the market. That context forced brokerage companies to find ways to adapt to the times.

According to Mr. Dung, in the past, brokers often went out to the streets to distribute flyers to reach customers, but when social networks developed, they started running ads mainly on social networking sites. However, this method has changed since 2023. If in the past, brokers spent 1 - 2 million VND per day running ads on Facebook, Zalo..., they would reach about 500 customers, but now the amount spent is larger, but the number of customers reached is only 50 - 100 people.

"Many brokers have returned to the old way of distributing leaflets to reach customers on the roads around the project, which they find more effective, reaching a large number of customers without much cost," said Mr. Dung.

The current pressure on brokerage businesses is the supply of goods, the market still has too few new projects for brokerage businesses to participate in sales.

Another old sales tactic that has recently made a comeback is reporting larger transaction volumes than actual.

The practice of inflating the number of customers interested in and buying a project was very popular in the past by brokerage firms. The main purpose was to create a false excitement for the project, encouraging customers to be interested in and buy the product. However, the consequence of this practice is that when customers discover the inflating, they will lose confidence in the project. In addition, a large number of customers will not buy when they see that the project is selling a lot and the competition is high. Since then, brokerage firms have long since stopped using this sales method.

Spinning under pressure

The real estate market is in the recovery phase, but there are many big problems for brokerage businesses. Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung, General Director of Westland Trading Joint Stock Company, said that the current pressure on brokerage businesses is the supply of goods, the market still has too few new projects for brokerage businesses to participate in sales.

Another pressure is that brokers have changed jobs or quit after the Covid-19 pandemic and the market crisis in 2022 and 2023. Therefore, recruiting brokers is very difficult now, with exchanges and brokerage firms having very few employees.

In addition, the transaction volume is very low because customers have not returned to the real estate market. This has reduced revenue, while the sales and operating costs of companies have increased. “Reaching customers is no longer as easy as before, just running ads on social media platforms. These pressures are weighing on brokerage businesses, forcing us to change to survive,” said Mr. Hung.

Mr. Vo Thanh Dat, General Director of Tran Anh Tay Saigon Real Estate Joint Stock Company, said that to solve the above difficulties, he recently established an alliance of 15 real estate brokerage companies named Lien Minh Khu Tay (Western Area of ​​Ho Chi Minh City). By joining this alliance, businesses will share their product baskets and sell together, creating a large number of brokerage staff in the context that each business has very few employees.

According to Mr. Dat, the market is changing quite complicatedly. The amount of new products does not meet the real needs of customers. New projects are mostly townhouses, villas, and land plots, which are very difficult to sell. Mid-range apartment projects are very few and are mainly distributed in the East of Ho Chi Minh City. In that context, brokerage businesses are facing a lot of pressure when trying to find ways to survive.

Mr. Dat believes that real estate brokerage activities will be even more difficult in the coming time. Specifically, the 2023 Real Estate Business Law (amended) has many new points in the direction of tightening real estate brokerage activities. This will put more pressure on brokerage businesses in recruiting employees and the sales method will no longer be as comfortable as it is now, leading to fewer transactions.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/batdongsan/doanh-nghiep-moi-gioi-bat-dong-san-quay-cuong-trong-ap-luc-d219134.html