Real estate businesses are preparing to recruit brokers again.

Since the end of September, in Hanoi, a number of companies such as Dat Xanh Mien Bac, OneHousing, and Pho Xanh Realty have continuously posted recruitment notices for dozens to hundreds of employees with many preferential policies in the context that investors have begun to restart and launch many projects at the end of this year.

Dat Xanh Mien Bac needs to recruit brokers for projects from Sapa to Phu Quoc. Employees can receive a fixed salary of up to 12 million VND per month, commission from 50 million VND per transaction, support up to 90% of marketing costs...

OneHousing plans to have 1,000 brokers by the end of this year, focusing on a number of high-rise and low-rise projects in Hanoi's metropolitan areas. The unit also aims to increase its brokerage force 10-fold next year.

Mr. Nguyen Tung, sales manager at a brokerage firm with a large market share in Hanoi, said that in the first half of the year, the company had to close several offices, and its staff was reduced from more than 2,000 to 300-400 people. However, after a period of recent recruitment, the number of brokers has increased to more than 1,000 people, who will focus on selling in some of the company's apartment and investment projects in Hanoi. At the same time, the company is also cooperating to distribute resort projects with a basket of more than ten thousand apartments such as in Phu Quoc and Quang Ninh.

According to Mr. Tung, the company is also prioritizing the re-hiring of old brokers who have quit recently to avoid the need for training. This group receives a fixed salary of 5 million VND per month but is not assigned a revenue target for two months. This unit still recruits new employees without experience, but does not pay if they do not sell products.

"Customer sentiment and interest in projects has improved a lot compared to a few months ago. Brokers have also been busier, especially on weekends when investors restart a series of events to stimulate demand," said Mr. Tung.

Similarly, in the South, many companies are also recruiting brokers. Mr. Tran Khanh Quang, General Director of Viet An Company, said that the real estate market is still difficult, but recently there have been positive signs such as customers are more interested in apartment projects, large investors have started to return to the market, preparing to have big sales from now until the end of the year. Therefore, according to Mr. Quang, brokerage companies have had to recruit new employees to restart the system, re-run sales programs for investors, especially apartment projects serving real housing needs.

In a report earlier this week, BHS Group also reported that many units are actively offering bonuses to boost sales even when brokers invite customers to make deposits.

Mr. Quang assessed that customer sentiment is not as good as before, but has improved a lot. "This is shown through the booking and sales opening of some investors in the South recently being quite successful. In previous years, investors could successfully open 200 products at a time, but now they can close 50-60 units," Mr. Quang shared.

However, this expert believes that the return of only 10% of the brokerage force is enough to meet the demand from now until the end of the year. He said that the current market is not yet the time when 70-80% of brokerages are needed as before because the product basket is still not large.

On the other hand, many small-scale brokerage floors and companies are still freezing recruitment after a period of narrowing operations and restructuring assets to have cash flow to maintain the core staff's operations every month. Mr. Nam Anh, director of a real estate brokerage company based in Nam Tu Liem district, commented that the new recruitment wave has only begun at large floors, selling to potential investors.

Last year, Mr. Kien’s company, which specializes in selling investment products and land, had about 200 brokers, but now there are only about 10. He said he is still trying to hold on until the market thaws. During this time, he and several company leaders still have to sell the products themselves.

Currently, real estate brokers are also hesitant to return to the profession after being owed wages and commissions. According to the General Director of Viet An Hoa, the number of brokers who are owed wages and commissions for 3-6 months is still very high. According to him, since the end of last year, many investors have encountered cash flow difficulties, and commission payments to brokerage floors have slowed down and then stopped. Therefore, brokerage companies have also been affected.

According to him, some small brokerage business owners have to spend their own money to maintain their company's operations, but there are also units that intentionally do not pay commissions to brokers. However, Mr. Khanh Quang acknowledged that these are only temporary barriers and require sympathy from both business owners and brokers.