In the face of a large, mobile, second-hand house market, a new rule has been adopted。
On 8 may, the ministry of housing and urban and rural construction and the directorate-general for the regulation of markets issued a joint opinion on the regulation of real estate brokers services, which made specific requests on such issues as the excessive costs of second-hand house brokers, price-fixing and fees for manipulating brokering services。
The opinion makes it clear that brokering services consist of essential services and extension services, encourages pricing on a low-cost, low-slotting basis, leads to the sharing of the costs of brokering services between the parties, strictly prohibits the manipulation of brokering services fees, the mixing of prices and binding fees, etc。
Is the real estate broker's fee high? This issue has been controversial in the industry. In absolute terms, countries such as the united states, japan and others have rates of 6 per cent, and mainland china on average less than 2 per cent; but in real life, buying a flat in a front-line city costs hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is still a significant expense for home buyers。
At present, regulation is intended to start with the sale of houses, to advocate for higher prices and lower service rates and to induce both buyers and sellers to share the costs, while at the same time strengthening the regulation of the intermediary sector and reducing the risk of transactions such as mischarging and non-transparent transactions. The industry believes that this is important in guiding the intermediary sector to regulate healthy development and in consolidating the market's resilience since this year。
Photo taken by ren yuming
Reasonable reduction, slotting, bilateral charges
While the process of real estate transactions is complex and cumbersome, involving a variety of aspects such as looking at houses, loans and so forth, the pricing of middle fees for second-hand house transactions has been the subject of controversy in the real estate sector. On 8 may, a joint communication was sent by the two departments proposing new rules for intermediary fees。
The opinion first makes it clear that brokering services consist of both basic and extended services. Basic services are a package of necessary services provided by real estate brokers to facilitate housing transactions, including the provision of information on the source of housing, the bringing of customers to the house, the conclusion of contracts for housing transactions and assistance in the registration of real estate. Extension services refer to additional services such as loans from the chargé d ' affaires, each of which can be provided separately。
The chief research fellow of the guangdong centre for housing policy studies, li yuja, stated that while the number of real estate brokers and practitioners in the country has continued to grow and the content of their services has expanded, some real estate brokers have, among other things, taken advantage of homeowners to charge excessive fees, uncoded prices, tied fees, misuse of customer's personal information, which increases the burden on traders and infringes on their legitimate rights and interests。
“defining basic services and extension services is a major change, and the brokering costs of basic services must be borne, while additional services, such as guarantees, foreclosures and even preferential access to housing, extension fees, etc., are not automatic.” li yuja argues. There is also the view that extension services will be a new area worth exploring in the future and that they will benefit the intermediary industry in exploring “new menus”。
After clarifying the meaning of real estate brokerage services, the new deal began from three angles by reshaping the rules for the charging of housing brokers。
First, it encourages slotting based on the principle of high transaction rates and low service rates. The fees for real estate brokerage services are determined on the basis of consultations on the content of the services, the quality of the services and the combination of market supply and demand. Brokers are required to reasonably reduce the cost of buying, selling and leasing brokering services. Slotting pricing is encouraged in accordance with the principle of higher transaction prices and lower service rates. Inducing the parties to the transaction to share the costs of brokering services。
According to wang xiaoxiang, the chief analyst of the zhuge data research centre, the higher the transaction price, the lower the intermediary rate, the better it would be for high total housing products. Moreover, due to high housing prices, china's intermediary fees have always been at a high level, while the intermediary fees have been paid by the buyer alone, and the bilateral fee model has helped to reduce the cost of buying the house, reflecting the protection of the rights and interests of the buyer。
The director-general of research at the institute for evictions has made a drastic leap forward in finding that the new deal is clear, that it is necessary to reduce the cost of brokering services in housing and renting, and that it leads both parties to share the cost of brokering services. The greatest highlight here is the need to direct both parties to the transaction to bear the cost of the service, reflecting the protection of the rights and interests of the buyer. There are already municipalities and companies that are applying bilateral fees。
Second, the price may not be mixed and the fees tied. Real estate brokers should publish the services, the content of the services and the fees, in such places or channels as door shops, websites, customers, etc., and should not mix bid and charge fees. Basic and extended services provided by real estate brokers should be defined separately and the fees should be provided to the parties involved in the transaction。
Furthermore, it is strictly prohibited to manipulate fees for brokering services. A market-dominant real estate broker should not abuse a market-dominant position to charge an unfairly high price for brokering services. The real estate internet platform may not impose a uniform fee for brokering services on the real estate broker agencies that are members of the platform, nor may it interfere with the independent determination of fees by the real estate agency。
According to wang xiaoxiang, about 90 per cent of second-hand houses in the country are traded through brokerage companies, the dependence of new houses on brokerage companies is increasing, and real estate brokers play an increasingly important role in real estate transactions. In the past, there have been instances of black intermediaries who have maliciously raised house prices, used the power of the owner to impose excessive fees, uncoded prices, etc., to increase the pressure on buyers to buy houses, and regulatory regulation has played an important role in the proper functioning of the real estate market. Under the new deal, the development model of future intermediaries also needs to be explored。
Reducing the intermediate cost of housing flows
At an important stage in the steady development of real estate, new regulations targeting the brokering sector have been sacrificed and have had a very strong practical background and significance。
According to li, people are better off in large transactions, such as buying houses, but they have high transaction costs, long trading cycles and a very high level of professionalism, often through intermediaries. However, many intermediaries take advantage of information asymmetries and bring in non-essential fees, such as bridge financing, mortgages, guarantees, etc., which impose additional burdens on residents, and some services have not been priced。
“since last year, the state has repeatedly proposed the promotion of a virtuous cycle of real estate to meet immediate and improved needs. When residents are less optimistic about housing prices and are more sensitive to transaction costs, transaction cycles and transaction costs are the biggest obstacles to a virtuous market cycle.” li woo jia stated that, in order to enter the stock age, to build up stocks and drive increments, institutional transaction costs would have to be reduced。
At the moment, when buyers want to buy a house, they not only face higher housing prices in large cities, but also expenses such as transaction taxes, brokerage fees, etc. At the practical level, housing, taxes and fees are rigid fixed expenses, while the space charged by intermediaries is controversial. A number of intermediaries believe that china is a country with lower rates of intermediation; on the other hand, buyers believe that the intermediary's services are not worth the fee。
The founder of the blank research institute, mr. Yang, has indicated that, at the factual level, there are significant differences in the rates of intermediaries in different countries. The rates for the united states, japan and taiwan, which reached 6 per cent, were high rates or areas; argentina, 5 per cent, germany, 4 per cent, canada, 3 per cent, were medium rates; the united kingdom and australia, 2 per cent, hong kong, china, 2 per cent and mainland china, on average, were less than 2 per cent。
In practical terms, there are differences in the rates charged by intermediaries in different cities of the country. In general, the rates for intermediaries in housing transactions in the first and second-line cities range between 2 per cent and 3 per cent of the bargain. For example, market intermediation fees in beijing include 2. 2 per cent of the gross house price for inter-house agencies and 0. 5 per cent of the gross house price for services provided by the chargé d ' affaires (known as the transaction guarantee service fee), all paid by the buyer。
Because of the high cost of first-line urban housing, the above-mentioned intermediary fees are already a significant expense. Moreover, in the more depressed markets, intermediary fees are more irregular and inward, with intermediaries engaging blindly at reduced rates, and intermediaries increasing prices to hide from consumers。
According to yang, nanchang is a market with more than 2. 5 per cent nominal rates, with an average real rate of 1. 2 per cent for several large head brands and lower rates for small intermediaries. As a result of the union's dominance, brokers and shopkeepers do not compete for the quality of their services, but only at rates, with a monthly average loss rate of over 13 per cent for brokers, with none benefiting, the worst industrial ecology。
With the exception of the issue of high and low rates, most countries around the world pay intermediary fees by sellers. There are very few cities in the country, such as suez, where the intermediary fee is paid by the seller and most of the remaining cities by the buyer, which greatly increases the “feeling burden” on consumers to buy houses。
In yang's view, the reason for what is termed “a sense of burden” is that the intermediary fee is ostensibly paid by the buyer, but the cost is “implied” in the house price, depending on the heat of the market and the game. “in sum, there is only one constant equation of positive feedback from the brokering industry: a reasonable nominal rate + a lower rate discount + a leading seller's domestic worker + a broker access threshold.” he indicated。
In addition to strictly prohibiting the manipulation of fees for brokering services, lee woo jia also believes that there is a need to identify minimum service costs and standards, especially in the context of long trading processes, multiple chains and high legal risks. Brokering is highly professional and, without a minimum service cost, it is difficult to attract professionals for long periods of time, leading to the expulsion of bad currency and the high quality of the brokering industry。
It has also been argued by industry sources that the more important issue in the brokering industry is the “bilateral agency system”, which, in the presence of two intermediaries, is bound to harm one of the parties to the transaction. A number of developed countries have opted for a unilateral system of agency, with intermediaries primarily based on one party's interests, which would greatly reduce the risk of transactional disruption. Shenzhen had introduced “unilateral agents” for the first time, but the model was still being explored。
