Selling through trading platforms will increase costs: property industry

The proposal seems too “stiff” since direct sales to buyers is more prevalent, Nguyen Quoc Hiep, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors, said at a forum Friday.

Developers know their products and could give prospective buyers detailed advice, which could translate into more sales, he said.

Listing their properties on intermediary platforms would increase costs by several times, he said.

“I think we should not require all transactions to go through platforms.”

Nguyen Van Dinh, a property analyst, said: “The proposal seems to curtail the freedom of business owners and people’s right to market access.”

The Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry recently called for making no changes, meaning transactions do not have to be routed through trading platforms.

This requirement was in the books from 2006 to 2014, but was scrapped to reduce the administrative burden and stimulate the property sector.

The government said on April 26 that it wants to revive the practice to reduce risks for buyers since transaction platforms would vet sellers and prices.

Developers would actually save costs when they hand over sales to platforms since they would not need to employ salespeople, it added.