In some cities in mainland China, the real estate agency industry is witnessing a bizarre phenomenon: in order to meet company assessment standards, some real estate agents are hiring “actors” at their own expense to pretend to be potential buyers for house viewings, paying them hourly rates ranging from 35 to 60 yuan (RMB).
This behavior highlights a fundamental reversal in the current supply and demand relationship in the property market, reflecting the tremendous pressure faced by the real estate agency industry. In the past, the saying “staying closed for a year, then eating for a year” was a common practice in the industry, attracting a large number of people to enter the field. However, even professionals working for large agencies now face challenges of low commissions, strict assessments, and high turnover rates.
According to a report by China Times on June 24th, in a survey conducted in first-tier cities, real estate agent Liu Qian (pseudonym) is one of the agents who “hire people to view houses”. He designs a fake buyer profile for the “actors”, such as “a young couple who just arrived in the city, with parents providing the down payment, looking for a property in a good school district, willing to pay around 17 million”. Liu Qian admitted that this approach is not to earn viewing rewards (as most secondhand house viewings don’t result in transactions and no money is made), but it is to meet the strict viewing volume assessments set by the company, in order to avoid being penalized with overtime work.
The demand for “hiring people to view houses” is increasing within local running errands groups, with rates typically ranging from 35 to 60 yuan. Surprisingly, many of the “actors” accepting these orders are well-dressed, articulate, giving the appearance of not lacking money, indicating a need for some individuals in society to fill idle time and earn extra income. This phenomenon of hiring people for house viewings is even present in the market of older and rundown properties with larger transaction volumes.
However, Liu Qian lamented, saying, “There are no rewards, I am paying out of my own pocket to hire people to view houses! I can barely afford my own rent…”
When asked if the viewing volume is linked to his base salary, Liu Qian replied that he has been working for a top agency for five to six years, and he no longer has a base salary, relying entirely on commissions. “No deal, no money to be made!”
In a local running errands group in a first-tier city, the demand for paying people to view houses has been increasing recently.
Insiders confirm that some large agencies indeed have strict viewing volume targets for agents and storefronts. While there are no additional rewards for increasing the viewing volume, and it is not directly tied to salaries, meeting these targets is a basic requirement. In rare cases, owners may offer rewards for high-priced properties with long periods without transactions, prompting agencies to hire people for viewing. However, overall, this is mainly a method used by brokers to achieve performance goals, reflecting the shift in the property market from the past “queueing to view houses” to the current trend of “paying someone to view houses”.
Real estate agency was once an industry where many dreams of getting rich quick were realized, with stores popping up everywhere and the number of industry personnel surging from 374,000 in 2008 to 2 million in 2020. With soaring property prices, a few transactions could bring in high salaries.
However, starting from 2019, top agencies began reforming commission distribution mechanisms, allocating total commissions to multiple participants and significantly reducing individual incomes from single property transactions. For example, for a property of 10 million yuan, despite seemingly having a commission of 300,000 yuan, after deductions and distributions, the personal income may not be substantial.
Now, with a decline in property transaction volumes and a sluggish overall market, real estate agencies are facing significant performance and salary pressures. Professionals like Liu Qian, who have been in the industry for many years, lament that they are currently experiencing the “most difficult period”, facing challenges not only in achieving performance but also worrying about potential layoffs. The phenomenon of falsifying viewings under the pressure of assessments is a microcosm of the increasingly intense “internal competition” and survival dilemma faced by the real estate agency industry in the current changes in the property market.