Brokers inflate apartment prices, buyers are frustrated

Because of the need to buy a new or used apartment in Hoang Mai and Hai Ba Trung districts for her son to study in his first year of university, for more than a month now, Ms. Tran Thi Phuong Lien (Nam Dinh City, Nam Dinh Province) has continuously asked acquaintances in Hanoi and brokers to help her find an apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1 kitchen.

Because the budget was only 2 billion VND, she relied on acquaintances and brokers, and was also a fabric trader. Ms. Lien often went to Ninh Hiep market (Gia Lam, Hanoi) to get goods and proactively searched for apartments and projects to reduce costs as well as find a suitable area.

Apartment brokers also use many tricks to attract customers. (Photo: Ky Phuong).

However, after more than 1 month of asking for a broker and being introduced, Ms. Lien was shocked to discover that for the same area, similar location or same project, the broker quoted a price much different from the price given by the old owner or project owner.

Typically, at the Rose Town apartment project (79 Ngoc Hoi, Hoang Mai, Hanoi) at present, the investor offers a price of 2.4 billion VND for a 2-bedroom apartment with an area of 71 - 78 m2; a 3-bedroom apartment with an area of 88 - 104 m2 is priced from 2.8 billion VND, equivalent to 31.8 - 33.8 million VND/m2 or more.

According to Ms. Lien, understanding the psychology of buyers, brokers push apartment prices too high, from several million to tens of millions of VND/m2 compared to the price offered by the investor, making it very difficult for those in need to find housing.

"The fact that brokers push up the price too high makes people who really want to buy a house have to buy it at a much higher price, because home buyers cannot buy directly from the investor, but must go through brokers or trading floors," said Ms. Lien.

To clarify this content, VTC News surveyed prices at The Terra - An Hung apartment building (An Hung urban area, La Khe, Ha Dong, Hanoi). Accordingly, the investor offered a selling price of 2.8 billion VND for an apartment with an area of 74 m2, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, equivalent to more than 37.4 million VND/m2. The apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, area of 82 m2, was priced at 3.1 billion VND, equivalent to 37.5 million VND/m2. The apartment with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, area of 90 m2 was priced at 3.5 billion VND, equivalent to 38.8 million VND/m2.

However, when PV contacted some brokers at this project, they said that the price of apartments at this project fluctuated around 45 - 50 million VND/m2, which means the price was pushed higher by 7.5 - 15 million VND/m2.

“The supply of apartments in Hanoi is very scarce, and the demand from buyers has increased recently, so the price is quite reasonable. If you put down your money to buy now, you can buy it. If you hesitate, it will be sold out and the price will continue to increase in the coming time,” said this broker.

Be careful when dealing with brokers

Sharing with VTC News, many brokers who are acquaintances said that it is not uncommon for brokers to use the "surfing" trick to make a profit by only depositing with the homeowner, then reselling, and when there is a buyer, they immediately transfer the property to make a profit.

Old apartment brokers also use many tricks to attract customers. (Illustration photo).

These brokers even set up Fanpages, social networking groups and websites specializing in selling houses and land, then take turns selling houses and land at high prices. To make this information more authentic, brokers also connect with each other to interact, comment on apartments or create virtual real estate transactions to "trick" inexperienced buyers, those with real needs or people in the provinces.

Or when needing to sell a project, brokers will continuously post articles on social media to create a stimulus effect, showing customers that this area is "hot", thereby attracting interested people.

“Of course, brokerage is an intermediary profession, earning income from taking a percentage of the profit difference in real estate transactions. However, the difference needs to be appropriate, not too high compared to the market, causing buyers to lose confidence,” broker Hoang Van Binh informed.

In fact, it is not uncommon for brokers to use tricks to promote the real estate market and apartment buildings to "warm up" in order to create virtual waves. There are even groups of brokers, homeowners and investors who have "shaken hands" to buy and sell, notarizing to create virtual transactions, "left hand" selling to "right hand".

Therefore, buyers need to be alert to the tricks of brokers to avoid losing more money or having their goods "stuck", especially when the market is still facing many difficulties like now.

VTC News's research shows that brokers often have a general rule that for apartment projects, the depreciation rate after 3-4 years of use is around 20%. Over 5 years, the depreciation rate will be accumulated and depends on the regulations of each floor.

For example, a customer wants to buy an apartment for 2 billion VND. Within 4 years, the homeowner wants to resell, the broker will deduct 20%, which is 400 million VND. If they want to sell in the 5th year, the deduction rate will be 22 - 23%, depending on the agreement. Notably, for apartments in projects without pink books, apartments with a term of 50 years, the depreciation rate will increase, falling to about 25 - 35% to squeeze the seller's price.

Citing her own example, Ms. Phuong Thi Thuy (Ha Giang) said that at the end of October she bought an old apartment, area 82m2 in Dinh Cong (Hoang Mai, Hanoi) for 2.5 billion VND, equivalent to 30.5 million VND/m2.

“When I asked, the broker said that there were no new projects in Dinh Cong area, so the prices of apartments had increased very high. Currently, this 82 m2 apartment is priced at 3.1 billion VND. After 2 trips, I asked an acquaintance to get the owner's phone number and asked for the price directly. They said, it is for sale at 2.6 billion VND, equivalent to 31.7 million VND/m2.

If we compare the price given by the owner, the broker has increased it to make a profit of 500 million VND/apartment with an area of 82m2. After agreeing on the purchase plan between the old and new owners and cutting the commission percentage for the broker, we called the broker to pay 80 million VND in commission. The apartment I bought is quite satisfactory, even with the commission percentage, it is still 420 million VND cheaper than the broker's offer," said Ms. Thuy.

Ms. Thuy also shared her experience that if customers want to buy at a close price, they should proactively survey and compare house prices with similar apartments in the same project, same area, same segment.

“If you find the price difference is too high compared to the broker’s price, you should consider and proactively negotiate, bargain or find the real owner. However, customers should not go back on their word or cut the broker’s commission percentage,” said Ms. Thuy.

PHAM DUY

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