Image source: Zhongfang Daily Picture Library
Excessive charges can easily lead to a decrease in transaction frequency, which is not conducive to the transfer of second-hand houses; too low charges can easily lead to insufficient supply of intermediary services and cannot meet consumers' needs for housing exchange services. Too high and low intermediary charges will eventually harm consumer interests.
China Housing News reporter Li Ye丨Beijing report
Although it has been a week since Zhang Jie and Xie Na couples were exposed by the agent surnamed Huo to "jump orders", the impact of the incident is still fermenting.
htmlOn February 7, a real estate agent named Huo posted a message online that he had brought the property to Zhang Jie and Xie Na twice on June 21 and 22, 2019. The latter no longer bought it on the grounds that he did not like the house. Shortly afterwards, Huo discovered that the couple had contacted the landlord Shanghai Sihe Asset Management Center to purchase the property in order to avoid large agency fees. As soon as themessage came out, it quickly sparked heated discussion. On the afternoon of February 8, Xie Na and Zhang Jie issued a statement through Shanghai Randi Law Firm denied " jump to ".
After that, the event has been "reversed". From the controversy of "jumping orders" and "compare three stores", to the identity of the whistleblower being "high-level restricted", to the questioning that the establishment time of the company used by couples to buy a house is not within the local housing purchase requirements, public opinion is full of different voices.
China Real Estate reporter noticed that among these voices, the discussion on the agency charging model accounts for a large proportion. Among them, many netizens and media believe that "the high agency fees charged according to the total transaction price are not reasonable and are subject to debate"; some netizens also said that "it is more guaranteed to buy a house through an intermediary, and it is reasonable to charge commissions for others who provide services"; at the same time, some people have also proposed the complete cancellation of agency.
htmlOn February 14, the reporter interviewed practitioners, experts and lawyers in the intermediary industry on the above-mentioned "skipping orders" incident and the intermediary fee model."jump order" debate
According to the information provided by Huo, the property purchased by Zhang Jie and Xie Na is Room 101, No. 7, Dongyuan, Sinan Mansion in Shanghai. The sale method is a second-hand house with an area of 341.77 square meters. The completion time is 2010, with a price of 62 million yuan, equivalent to a unit price of about 181,400 yuan.
On June 21 and 22, 2019, Huo took the property for Zhang Jie and Xie Na twice. In the end, the latter said he would not buy it on the grounds that he did not like the property. By the summer of 2020, Huo discovered that the couple had purchased the property.
A Shanghai real estate registration book printed on November 1, 2021 provided by Huo to the media shows that the owner of the house is Chongqing Meikaiyanxiao Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Mekaiyanxiao Company"). The reporter learned through Qichacha that Meikaiyanxiao Company is a radio, television, film and recording manufacturing enterprise. It was established in October 2019 with a registered capital of 3 million yuan. It is a small and micro enterprise. The actual controller is Xie Na, and it holds 99% of the company's equity.
In addition, some netizens said that the intermediary company that finally completed the transaction with Xie Na and Zhang Jie was Shanghai Yongye Housing Sales Co., Ltd., with an online signing price of 59.2 million yuan, which is 2.8 million yuan lower than the 62 million yuan price provided by Huo before. "Zhang Jie and Xie Na belong to the 'comparison of three stores' rather than 'jumping orders'."
However, some media pointed out that the original landlord of Shanghai Sihe Asset Management Center, the property purchased by Shanghai Yongye Housing Sales Co., Ltd. and Zhang Jie and his wife, are both under the name of Shanghai Yongye Enterprise (Group) Co., Ltd. How to determine whether to "jump orders" or "compare the orders"? China Real Estate News reporter interviewed Qi Zheng, a lawyer at Beijing Hanhua Law Firm.
Qi Zheng told reporters that "jumping orders" usually refers to the act of buying and selling parties after contacting them through an intermediary, breaking the intermediary, completing the transaction on their own, or through other intermediary companies to handle procedures to pay less or not pay commissions. The key to measuring whether it is "jumping orders" or "compare three" is to see whether the buyer has taken advantage of the information, opportunities and other conditions provided by the intermediary.If the buyer does not use the information, opportunities and other conditions provided by the intermediary company, but uses other legitimate channels that can be known to the public, the buyer has the right to choose an intermediary with low quotation and good service to facilitate the establishment of a sales contract, and does not constitute a "jump order" breach.
"If Huo does have evidence to prove that the buyer and seller have a 'jump order', and the intermediary and the buyer and seller have signed a contract with an anti-bounce order' clause, the intermediary can choose to sue the breach of contract and ask the breach of contract to pay a penalty for liquidated damages. In this incident, Huo said that he had not signed a contract with Xie Na and Zhang Jie, and the two parties did not have relevant written agreements. Based on my experience, they may not even have the oral agreement on the anti-bounce order' clause. Without an agreement, there is no right. Even if a lawsuit is filed, Huo's claim is unlikely to be supported by the court." Qi Zheng said.
On the other hand, in Huo’s public information, Room 101, No. 7, Dongyuan, Shanghai Sinan Mansion, officially completed the online signing on December 14, 2019.
According to the "Interim Provisions on Regulating the Purchase of Commercial Housing by Shanghai" issued by Shanghai in 2018, enterprises must meet the following conditions at the same time for purchasing commercial housing in Shanghai: 1. The enterprise has been established for 5 years; 2. The accumulated tax amount paid by the enterprise in Shanghai has reached RMB 1 million; 3. The number of employees of the enterprise has been 10 or more, and social security and provident fund have been paid in accordance with regulations for 5 years. If an enterprise pays more than RMB 5 million in recent years, the amount of tax paid by the above-mentioned company is not subject to the conditions such as the establishment period and number of employees when purchasing a house.
, Meikaiyanxiao Company, established in October 2019, completed the transfer of houses in two months after its establishment, also aroused public speculation.
htmlOn February 14, the reporter called Meikaiyanxiao Company for the above reasons, and no one answered the call.In this regard, Qi Zheng believes that whether Meikaiyanxiao Company violated the house purchase regulations is the key to whether the company has submitted materials truthfully to the real estate transaction authority when transferring the transaction. If the company does not submit false materials to the real estate transaction authority when transferring the transaction, there will be no violation. The truth of the agency fee in
in the vortex
"jump order" incident is still uncertain, and netizens' focus has also begun to shift, and the discussion on agency commissions has not diminished.
Some netizens believe that house prices are high now, and many home buyers are under great pressure to buy houses. The additional agency fees added in the second-hand housing transaction process are a huge burden. On the other hand, some real estate agencies may use their channel advantages to monopolize second-hand housing purchase and sale information, which also increases the frequency of "jumping orders".
In the hot search of Zhang Jie and Xie Na’s couple’s “jump order” topic, some netizens did some calculations. If the property purchased by the couple is sold at the original price of 62 million yuan, they will pay nearly 1.2 million yuan to the intermediary based on the fee of 2% of the transaction price as a commission based on the intermediary’s general withdrawal of 2% of the transaction price as a commission.
Huo also said in an interview with the media that although there was no discussion on the agency fee issue at that time, as usual, 1% of the buyer plus 1% of the seller, the total commission is nearly 1.2 million yuan.
In fact, the issue of charging agency fees has always been controversial. In a discussion on similar topics on Weibo , some people said, "It is more secure to buy a house through an intermediary, and others provide services. As long as it is legal and compliant, there is no problem to collect commissions"; some people believe that "it is unreasonable to charge such high fees by just providing information exchange and viewing services." Some people even proposed that intermediaries should be completely cancelled.
When interviewing many brand intermediaries, the reporter found that the current collection of agency fees in the market is between 1% and 3% of the total house transaction price, and some intermediary companies also stipulate the cap amount. There are also differences in the collection mode of agency fees in different regions. In Beijing, the real estate agency fee is borne by the buyer; in Shanghai, the agency fee is borne by the buyer and seller. In the interview with
, a staff member of a Shanghai branch of a brand intermediary told reporters, "We are very sensitive to commission issues and it is not convenient to disclose specific data."
A staff member of a Beijing brand intermediary company focusing on luxury home transactions said, "The fixed agency fee is 2.7% of the transaction price, and there will be corresponding discounts. The specific discount depends on the transaction situation.If everything is agreed upon, only commission discounts will be left, and commissions will not become an obstacle to signing a contract. "
Regarding the intermediary fee standards, Miu Meng, deputy general manager of E-Ju Cerry Department, said in an interview with a reporter from China Real Estate News that the prices of properties traded in the market are getting higher and higher, and the agency fees are rising. But in terms of services, a property with a total price of 50 million yuan and a property with a total price of 5 million yuan, the services provided by the intermediary are not much different, but the fees charged are 10 times different, which is obviously not reasonable. From the industry situation, many real industries (small and medium-sized) have worked hard for one year to operate the output value may not be as good as the intermediary commission.
For the market The voice on the market that the intermediary will be cancelled in the future, Miu Meng said that the market still has demand for the intermediary industry, but the one-size-fits-all charging standard is no longer suitable for the current market. Charging in segments according to the target price should be a development direction. At the same time, strengthening the maintenance of the legitimate rights and interests of the intermediary industry should also achieve consensus in the whole society.
Balance of interests
"Second-hand housing transactions are mainly determined by supply and demand. Intermediary fees have very little impact on supply and demand. When there is no obvious change in supply and demand, second-hand housing transactions will not undergo significant changes. "About the impact of agency fees on housing transactions, a senior researcher in the field of intermediary who did not want to be named told China Real Estate News reporter.
He introduced that the corresponding services of second-hand housing transactions with different total prices are different, especially for high-to-large housing in first-tier cities, because it involves asset allocation, large amounts of taxes, large transaction risks, complex property rights transfer processes and cumbersome transaction procedures, it requires strong professionalism. Therefore, the role of high-to-large housing agency service is more reflected in property consultants. At present, there is no unified standard for charging high-to-large housing agency fees in different cities. Generally, only a very small number of intermediaries can complete transactions of high-to-large housing efficiently and smoothly. For example, Beijing Lianjia stipulates that the agency fee is capped by 500,000 yuan. , Other well-known high-end second-hand housing agency such as CBRE , JLL , Collective International , Savills Davis, and Dard Asphalt Bank are uncertain, and the agency negotiates with consumers to negotiate and agree.
How should the interests of buyers, intermediaries and sellers be balanced in second-hand housing transactions?
The researcher said that second-hand housing transactions should take into account the interests of buyers, sellers and intermediaries. The role of intermediaries is to provide professional services and reduce the transaction costs of buyers and sellers, mainly including reducing the time cost of buyers and sellers for finding suitable transaction counterparts, reducing the risk of the transaction process, improving the efficiency of the transaction, etc., and at the same time collecting and serving Matching agency fees. Intermediaries are the lubricant for second-hand housing transactions. The state of the intermediary market operation has an important impact on the second-hand housing transaction market. A well-run intermediary market must be a win-win market for the buyer, seller and intermediary. The relationship between the agency and the buyer and seller is clear, the agency market is in orderly competition, and the industry association plays a self-discipline role, and ultimately realizes a virtuous cycle of the second-hand housing market.
How can an intermediary charge more reasonable in the face of high total prices?
The researcher believes that since the transaction of second-hand housing involves a large amount of tax calculation, large transaction risks, complex property rights transfer process and cumbersome transaction procedures, it requires strong professional knowledge to successfully complete the transaction. To prevent the legitimate rights and interests of buyers and sellers, the role of intermediaries in the transaction process is extremely critical. Reasonable charges should adhere to the combination of market pricing, industry self-discipline and government supervision, because too high or too low fees are not conducive to the healthy development of the industry. Too high or too low fees are likely to lead to a decrease in transaction frequency and is not conducive to the transfer of second-hand houses; too low fees can easily lead to insufficient supply of intermediary services and cannot meet the needs of consumers for housing exchange services. Too high or low intermediary fees will eventually harm consumer interests.
"Reasonable charges should be free competition in the market, full negotiation between consumers and intermediaries, industry associations improve self-discipline in price formation and charging methods, and the government guarantees consumers' right to know and free choice of intermediary fees to ensure clear price tags and fair transactions. Among them, step-by-step charging and flexible charging are optional charging methods and means. ”
