Realtor incomes plunge as Covid-19 disrupts market

Toan, a realtor, said because of poor sales in the last 12 months, the company he works for had to close two branches in the south and the west of HCMC last month, when his income was already one-fourth of what he got the same month last year.

Most of his colleagues have quit, while a few others have switched to collaborators with a meager monthly base salary.

There are no new real estate projects, the secondary market is stagnant, it is harder to satisfy potential apartment buyers, and rental properties have hit the shelves during the epidemic outbreak, so realtors cannot earn commissions, he said.

Another real estate agent, Minh, said he suffered significant damage after spending money on marketing campaigns but had no sales in June due to all potential buyers delaying delivery. epidemic, waiting for the pandemic to be contained.

"My monthly salary is about 7 million dong ($304), but marketing expenses are more than 10 million dong, so I lost nearly 4 million dong," he said.

Nguyen Loc Hanh, CEO of Asia Gems Real Estate Investment Joint Stock Company, said the ongoing fourth wave of Covid-19 has hurt not only real estate agents but also real estate agents. all companies.

In Ho Chi Minh City, about 80% of real estate brokerage firms, with between 50-70 brokers, have encountered difficulties since last year.Most of them have had to cut staff, close offices or branches, cut basic salary by 30-50% or pay late.The income of brokerage staff at small and medium-sized companies in June decreased by 60-80% compared to the same period last year.

Ms. Hanh said that some businesses have borrowed money to pay salaries, wishing to maintain operations and wait for opportunities in the post-pandemic period.

Many real estate brokers are likely to continue to see poor revenue in the third and even fourth quarters of this year, he said, adding that smaller firms are likely to go bankrupt, while large firms are more likely to fail. than downsizing.

"Now, the incomes of realtors at big brokerage firms have decreased 40-50 percent against the last six months," Pham Lam, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors, told VnExpress.

The pandemic has pushed a large number of small and medium-sized real estate agents out of the market, leaving many real estate agents redundant, he said, adding that some of them will find way of working for larger companies.