Hong Kong’s top property agencies to cut more than 3,000 jobs, close branches to slash costs as sales slump endures
- The city’s four major residential property agencies will let 3,100 people go through the beginning of 2023
- Property transactions are expected to hit a 32-year low of 64,000 in 2022, meaning meagre commissions for many of the city’s more than 41,000 agents
More than 3,000 employees at property agencies will lose their jobs as the impact of Hong Kong’s slumping home market spills over into the labour market.
The four biggest property agencies – Centaline Property Agency, Midland Realty, Ricacorp Properties and Hong Kong Property Services (Agency) – are already reducing headcount and expect to let a total of at least 3,100 people go through early next year, as executives see little hope of a sales recovery before the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January.
“The market sentiment is not good,” said Louis Chan, Asia-Pacific vice-chairman and chief executive of the residential division at Centaline. “There is not [enough] business. We will cut [costs] until there is a profit.”
Centaline plans to reduce headcount by 800 this year and another 800 in the first two months next year, Chan said, and the total might reach 30 per cent of the agency’s sales staff depending on market sentiment. The company had about 6,000 sales agents and about 1,000 non-sales employees as of September, Chan said.
With property transactions expected to hit a 32-year low of 64,000 in 2022 amid the interest rate upcycle, according to Midland Holdings, commission income is clearly insufficient to support the industry’s 41,489 licensed agents.