Property brokerages start hiring again on recovery hopes

Since the end of September a number of companies in Hanoi such as Dat Xanh Mien Bac, OneHousing and Pho Xanh Realty have been putting up notices about hiring dozens to hundreds of agents.

Dat Xanh Mien Bac wants to recruit brokers for projects in many places from Sa Pa in the northern Lao Cai Province to Phu Quoc Island in the south. It offers a fixed salary of up to VND12 million (US$500) a month and commissions of at least VND50 million per transaction.

OneHousing plans to have a total of 1,000 brokers on its payroll by the end of this year to sell apartments and town houses in Hanoi, and 10,000 next year.

Nguyen Tung, head of sales at a brokerage firm with a large market share in Hanoi, said his firm had to cut its workforce from more than 2,000 to 300-400 in the first half of this year, but the number has now increased to over 1,000.

"Customer sentiment and interest in real estate projects is much better than a few months ago. Brokers have also been busier, especially on weekends when developers restart a series of events to stimulate demand."

In the south too many companies are hiring brokers.

Tran Khanh Quang, general director of Viet An Company, said the real estate market is still bearish, but there have been some positive signals recently such as heightened buying interest in apartments and large developers preparing to organize huge sales events this year, especially for apartments for self-occupation.

"Bookings and opening sales of some developers in the south have started to show signs of a recovery. They sell 50-60 units at a time."

In 2022 they were selling 200, he said.

Brokerages could meet the demand this year if they have 10% of their past payroll, he added.

Nam Anh, director of a real estate brokerage in Hanoi’s Nam Tu Liem District, said new hiring is only happening at large firms who sell for major developers, while smaller ones are only trying to keep their core human resources.