High housing prices, brokers struggle to find affordable sources

Mr. Nguyen Van Minh - a real estate broker in Hanoi said that he used to specialize in selling products from investor projects. But recently, new products launched on the market are all in the high-end segment and have quite high prices. Therefore, the number of customers asking to buy from him has also gradually decreased.

"House prices range from 80 million VND to over 100 million VND/m2, so when I show customers houses, most of them say they are too expensive and don't buy. There were many consecutive months when I couldn't sell any products, which meant I had no income, while advertising costs still cost tens of millions of VND/month," Minh shared.

Not only are the prices high, but many of his customers like the apartments but when they want to match them with the investor, they cannot, so he is very frustrated.

"Primary house prices are too expensive, so they will not attract buyers. After many months of not being able to sell any products, I had to switch to selling secondary transfer products, especially products whose owners need money so they sell them at low prices. In the market, only products like this attract ordinary buyers," said Mr. Minh.

According to Mr. Minh, although the price of secondary houses is currently being pushed up according to the primary market, in reality, many houses still have acceptable prices. However, to find houses like this, brokers have to work much harder because they have to spend time searching, surveying the actual situation and negotiating with the owner to reach a reasonable price.

Although finding sources of goods is more difficult, closing deals is much easier, because the products have been selected and customers find the prices reasonable compared to the market, so they do not hesitate to pay for them right away.

"Since switching to the secondary market for customers, I have been able to sell about 1-2 apartments per month, so I have enough income to maintain my life," said Mr. Minh.

Similarly, Ms. Le Thi Tan - a broker in Hanoi also said that she used to specialize in selling apartment projects for investors, but for more than a year now, when house prices have increased too high, causing the number of home buyers to decrease, she is worried that it will be difficult to stick with the job. Therefore, she also switched to selling land and residential land in Hanoi.

In fact, the price of land and residential land is also increasing, but the increase is not as strong as that of apartments and this is still a safe and attractive segment for investors.

"Many land areas are still within reasonable limits and can increase in the future, so if you find a good product, investors will certainly put money down. In particular, after a period of stagnation in this segment, many investors using financial leverage had to reduce the selling price to get rid of their goods, so there were lucky months when I closed 3-4 lots in a row," said Ms. Tan.

Recently, according to Ms. Tan, the auctioned land segment has also received much attention from investors, so currently the auctioned land lots are still having quite good transactions.

"The real estate market today is very different from before. There are few new products for sale, while prices are high. Therefore, we have to sell many different products to have enough commission to sustain our lives," Ms. Tan confided.

Ms. Ho Thi Thu Mai - E-commerce Director of Nha O Ngay Company Limited - shared that the shortage of goods has made some brokers feel confused and disoriented, with no income. Some brokers even consider changing careers or temporarily quitting their jobs, waiting for the market to stabilize.

Some long-time brokers are looking for new products, even changing their sales locations. Brokers who are working in the West are ready to move to the East, and brokers who specialize in transfer sales are also looking for opportunities to sell new projects.

If in the past brokers often chose and focused on a segment that suited them such as residential land, resorts, apartments or land, now they accept to sell a variety of products, selling any product that customers need.