Real estate brokerage workforce is large but not yet refined.

Selling iced tea and also doing real estate brokerage

Ms. N. in Nguyen Trai Ward has a tea shop on a busy street in Hai Duong City. Her customers are mainly young people, including many who work as real estate consultants and brokers, as well as shop owners who rent out their properties and those who want to sell their properties. In daily contact, many people ask her to introduce them to their stores and properties if they have any inquiries. Then there are times when she successfully introduces buyers, and the property owners pay her a commission, from a few million to tens of millions of dong.

Realizing that real estate consulting brings in a good income and does not take much time because it can be done right at the time of selling, Ms. N. actively does this job. Every day, she advertises for sale and rent of shops and real estate on her personal Facebook page, Zalo and on many real estate buying and selling groups. If a customer asks, she enthusiastically consults and takes them to see the "product".

“Selling water is also easy, so whenever I have free time, I post on groups and answer customers’ questions. At first, I was just doing real estate consulting and brokerage to make it easier for customers. But after doing it for a long time, I found that this job is not complicated, and I also have extra income, so I think it is good,” said Ms. N.

Ms. N.’s case is not uncommon. In addition to the “regular” brokerage staff with degrees and practice certificates, in recent years in Hai Duong there has been a large force of freelance brokers, also known as “land brokers”. Every family is a broker, everyone is a “land broker” without needing a practice certificate.

Therefore, most of them are not qualified, lack professionalism and lack awareness of law compliance. Many amateur real estate brokers also hoard land, inflate prices to create virtual fever, and disrupt the market. Many brokers directly or indirectly help project owners defraud customers.

The 2014 Law on Real Estate Business stipulates that when practicing real estate brokerage, a practice certificate is required, but no training is required. This is a huge drawback, which is the reason why up to 90% of brokers do not have basic knowledge of the profession.

Many brokers are not even aware of the regulations requiring a brokerage practice certificate and attending training courses. Meanwhile, many people know but still do not attend training courses, professional knowledge training and professional certification exams because they are not afraid of being fined. Decree 16/2022/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions on construction has provisions on administrative sanctions for individuals conducting independent real estate brokerage services without a practice certificate. However, up to now, there has been no information about any cases of fines and many "land brokers" are still unaware of this regulation.

Tighten operations

In order to overcome the above shortcomings, the Law on Real Estate Business 2023, effective from August 1, 2024, stipulates that individuals practicing real estate brokerage must have a practice certificate; must practice in a real estate trading floor service business or a real estate brokerage service business. This means that individuals are not allowed to practice real estate brokerage freely as they are now (the Law on Real Estate Business 2014 allows individuals to have the right to practice independent real estate brokerage services).

According to data from the Vietnam Association of Realtors, at the peak of the real estate market, there were about 300,000-400,000 individuals practicing real estate brokerage. However, only about 40,000 people had real estate brokerage certificates, had undergone professional training and had certificates issued by the Department of Construction.

In Hai Duong, there are no exact statistics on the total number of people working as real estate brokers, but from 2021 to now, the Department of Construction has only granted brokerage certificates to 244 people.

Issuing a license to practice for brokers is necessary to make the market healthy and especially to protect buyers. But to achieve this goal, it is equally important to manage brokers. Because if not strictly managed, brokers with licenses can also inflate prices, spread rumors, and create virtual fever.

Therefore, post-certification inspection is also very important. There needs to be a mechanism to monitor brokers' activities to ensure they fully comply with legal regulations and professional standards.

The 2023 Real Estate Business Law has been in effect for 4 months, but the province has not announced plans to organize exams to grant brokerage certificates. Therefore, it is likely that real estate brokers will continue to have difficulty accessing practice certificates.

Recently, the Vietnam Association of Realtors has announced the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for real estate brokers in Vietnam. This is a significant event, marking a new step forward in perfecting professional standards, enhancing the reputation and social responsibility of organizations and individuals operating in the real estate brokerage profession in Vietnam.

Hopefully, together with the provisions of the 2023 Law on Real Estate Business, the code will encourage the real estate brokerage community to work together to build a healthy and sustainable business environment, meeting the requirements and expectations of customers, while promoting the development of the real estate market, towards a transparent, fair, professional and sustainable market.