Survival of the fittest

Due to the impact of Covid-19 in the first months of 2020, the real estate market faces many challenges. Vietnam National Real Estate Association (VNREA) said that in the second half of 2019 and early 2020, the market has encountered some difficulties and showed signs of sharp decline, affecting many other industries.

In the first 3 months of the year, under the impact of the pandemic, most activities in the real estate market stagnated, real estate brokerage transactions fell in a state of inactivity. This directly affects real estate sales agencies. According to the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS), about 800 real estate sales agencies have been closed because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Real estate brokerage transactions are regularly made via CenHomes.vn app.

Statistics of Vietnam Association of Realtors and the Ministry of Construction show that, by the end of 2018, there are about 1,000 real estate sales agencies, of which Ho Chi Minh City had about 300 sales agencies. However, by the end of 2019 due to declining supply, agencies face numerous challenges. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, a series of sales agencies have to be close, especially in Da Nang and Nha Trang.

According to Chairman of Vietnam National Real Estate Association Nguyen Tran Nam, businesses need to be proactive and find new directions to maintain operations as well as overcome these difficulties.

As for real estate sales agencies, this can be a hard choice because amateur realtors, sales agencies with poor vision and capacity, especially without financial accumulation cannot survive.

Companies that are strictly and professionally managed and focuses on training qualified human resources will have opportunities for strong development when the market is stable again.

Cen Group Vice Chairman Pham Thanh Hung said that the difficult market is temporary, it can only cause difficulties for small sales agencies. Agencies with financial potential can still stand up and even seize the opportunities to dominate the market.

Opportunity to step up innovation

Real estate sales agencies must step up innovation to survive. Application of technological solutions is a top priority thanks to the popularization of smartphones and social networks. Century Land Joint Stock Company (Cen Land - Ticker: CRE) quickly changes to adopt the difficult situation.

No more direct trading activities at the floor and project, Cen Land has used the available online platforms, integrated with Cenhomes.vn to spread information quickly and timely of the market to homebuyers. Successful development of an online sales application is also the reason Cen Land still has several hundred transactions per month to ensure maintenance of operations during the middle of the season.

Every day Cen Land holds talkshows, livestreams and news through the Facebook fan page, Youtube and website of CenHomes.vn, attracting tens of thousands of interested customers.

As the pioneering proptech platform in Vietnam, Cenhomes.vn promotes its role effectively. Online open-for-sales events are held daily and weekly with updated information about the project, allowing users to review details about real estate products and transact with online trading tools such as checking apartment status, deposit, payment and valuation.

Cen Homes real estate news (on the website, Youtube, on Facebook fan page) provides data and images, giving homebuyers a overview on the market, the projects, financial issues and investment.

In order to maintain a stable operation, CRE has prompt strategies and good financial resources, so the sales measures ensure a balance of revenue and expenditure sources, especially in the difficult period.

CRE maintained its market leadership position in brokerage in the North, with 40% market share. This year, the company continues to achieve great revenue from Vuon Sen (Bac Ninh), The Central (Thanh Hoa), International Overseas Vietnamese Village (Hai Phong), Dolphin Plaza (Hanoi), etc.

In addition, Cen Land focuses on human resources and freelance realtors. The Company has thousands of realtors, thousands of connected agencies and authorized agents. Cen Land continues its strategy to expand the network, recruit specialists and connected agencies nationwide.

According to the latest analysis of HSC forecasts on business results in 2020, CRE net profit in 2020 is expected to reach 278 billion dong and revenue of 1,558 billion dong.

2019 is a successful year when CRE revenue growth achieves over 37% compared to the previous year, reaching 2,312 billion dong. The after-tax profit is about 393 billion dong, up 22.7% YoY, in which, after-tax profit of parent company shareholders is approximately 389 billion dong. EPS is 4,860 dong. These are outstanding figures in the same industry.