Compulsory transactions through trading floors proposed

	Real estate trading floor should become a conditional activity
	Japanese investors lead M&A in real estate market
	Real estate enterprises: Favorable procedures for investment licensing are more valuable than gold

Realtors play an important role in the circulation of real estate goods.Photo: H. Anh

80% transactions through brokers

Real estate brokerage plays an important role in the circulation of real estate goods. Over the years, the realtor team has played an important role in helping the real estate market in Vietnam develop strongly and stably, making an important contribution to the country's economic growth.

Speaking at the seminar on "The role of brokerage activities in the management and development of the real estate market in Vietnam" which was just organized, PhD. Tran Huu Ha, Director of the Academy of Managersfor Construction and Cities (AMC) revealed that there are about 15,000 real estate businesses, 1,200 real estate trading floors with more than 400,000 real estate brokerage staff and more than 80% of real estate transactions on the market made via brokers.

Due to such an important role, Dr. Tran Huu Ha said that real estate brokers need to be well equipped with necessary knowledge and skills which enable them to synthesize enough information about real estate associated with legal procedures and planning, real estate values ​​for both buyers and sellers.

However, the reality shows that real estate brokers are not protected, while many law violations have occurred in some projects. On the other hand, some real estate practitioners are not trained professionally, disregard ethical responsibilities and management regulations.

A significant number of products offered by real estate brokers are not qualified enough to be put into business because they pilot false information or location, price or fake information about legal and real estate planning.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Lap, Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARs), Director of the Institute of Real Estate Research and Training, said that the real estate brokerage service market developed uncontrollably because of unfair competitors.

Moreover, there is almost no barriers to entry or withdrawal because everyone, every subject, every individual can easily join.Normally, by the time of high demand, an escalating number of workers from other industries rush to join as brokers createthe high growth rate.

However, the rapid development often leads to fierce and unfair competition among rivals.The situation of being pinched by investors is quite common, leading to a decline in service quality and fraud, creating a bad reputation in society.

According to Mr. Ha, the real estate market will develop more sustainably if the brokerage team is trained, fostered and managed more closely.

Currently, individuals are not required to have a certificate of course completion to take the real estate broker.

"This has created a trend of individuals who do not really want to study, research real estate brokers but sometimes just to deal with exams."

Mr. Ha also said that, according to the survey results of the Ministry of Construction, more than 80% of brokers responded that they did not participate or just attended a training course for employees, but the main forms of training still are seniors who pass on the experience to new staff.

Trading floors must be licensed

In the last three years, the growth rate of realtors has reached an average of about 15%, accompanied with an urgent requirement to improve the practice conditions.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, General Secretary of Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARs), current policies and laws on real estate brokerage are now putting real estate brokers and trading floors in very weak positions due to a lack of mandatory regulations on real estate transactions through trading floors.

Meanwhile, real estate brokers play an extremely important role in the distribution channel system in the market. In particular, they are intermediaries between sellers and buyers, who act towards transparency of the market and protect legitimate rights and interests of customers.

In order to develop a transparent real estate market which aims at protecting customer’s rights, Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh said that it is necessary to issue legal transactions regulating that real estate floors must be licensed, and every transaction must be registered via trading floors.

Real estate trading floors should be positioned as the center of the market, as an intermediary object, balancing all activities of the real estate market. Otherwise, the market will always be chaotic due to fraudulent activities, false information, causing risks to investors and customers in the real estate market.

“The number of real estate brokers operating in compliance with the current law is very low. In order to overcome this situation, it is necessary to have more strict regulations in granting certificates of brokerage profession,”Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh said.

In order to improve the quality of real estate brokerage activities, Mr. Nguyen Van Lap said that it is necessary to improve the role and legal status of the realtors in transactions.

Accordingly, we must propose to supplement article of compulsory trading on the floor for some types of real estate, especially real estate formed in the future and in some special cities. In particular, documents such as deposit contracts must have a broker's certification with a specific code of practice before signing or leasing, etc.

At the same time, it is necessary to reorganize the training and examination for the granting of brokerage practice certificates, to intensify the inspection especially inspection of real estate brokerage practice in accordance with the law. Moreover, those who don’t belong to trading floor should be applied particular reporting mechanism.