Institutional bottlenecks are hindering the entire market
On the afternoon of April 21, the Vietnam Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation organized a seminar on "Real Estate Brokers' Certificate: Where are the problems, how to resolve them?".
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Real Estate Brokers (VARS) - emphasized: "We are in the midst of an extremely important transition period for the real estate brokerage industry. The 2023 Real Estate Business Law has taken effect since August 1, 2024 with great expectations for standardizing the professional team.
But we are witnessing an institutional bottleneck when regulations are available but the operating system has not been unblocked. Localities have not yet organized the exam, learners do not know where to study according to standards, while businesses cannot recruit enough personnel with legal certificates to ensure operation according to the law".
According to a survey by the Real Estate Market Review Institute, with about 30,000 brokers, up to now, more than 6,000 students have completed the training program according to Circular 04 but have not been able to take the examination exam, due to problems in the organization of exams in provinces and cities. Notably, there are 416 brokers reporting standard personnel shortcomings, leading to the fact that many brokers cannot recruit enough legal personnel, directly affecting transactions and market recovery process.
Need for a synchronous and flexible coordination mechanism to remove obstacles
The speeches at the seminar showed that the bottlenecks were mainly from the delay in issuing guidelines for implementation at local levels. Although the law has clearly defined responsibilities under the People's Committee of the province/city, but now most localities have not made a specific implementation.
Dr. Tran Xuan Luong - Deputy Director of the Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation - said: "The market is having a paradox that the brokerage team has not been granted a certificate, the enterprise does not have qualified human resources, but cannot organize exams. If not resolved soon, the "legal deadlock" will last."
According to Mr. Luong, the delay in the testing stage is not only a technical problem but also a bottleneck in the market's operating chain, leading to the risk of freezing human resources and slowing down recovery. To remove this bottleneck, an effective coordination mechanism with clearly defined responsibilities, along with consensus and determination to act from both the central and local levels is needed.
Analyzing at the workshop, Dr. Tran Xuan Luong - Deputy Director of the Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation - frankly pointed out: "The problem is not the ability to organize, but the lack of synchronization in direction and implementation. If localities continue to wait for each other or worry about responsibility, the exam will always be on paper".
At the end of the workshop, many practical recommendations were made to remove bottlenecks in organizing exams and granting real estate brokerage practice certificates. In particular, the delegates agreed to propose that the Ministry of Construction soon issue specific guidance documents so that the People's Committees of provinces and cities have a basis to conduct the exam in accordance with legal regulations.
In addition, opinions also emphasized the need to allow qualified training units to coordinate in organizing the exam; at the same time, it is proposed to build an online or inter-provincial exam system, to reduce pressure on each locality and ensure publicity and transparency throughout the system.
