Image source@Visual China
文｜显微故事，作者 | 常宁宁，编辑 | 蔡玉
In recent years, the property market has been cold, and real estate developers are "anxious". Naturally, this anxiety has also been devolved into the various property companies under the property developer's umbrella.
For example, in order to diversify its business transformation, Vanke has been involved in logistics, commercial real estate, skiing, long-term rental apartments, elderly care, education, industrial office and other fields.
Country Garden began to explore smart properties, installing face recognition systems and intelligent security in the community. There are also some real estate properties that explore e-commerce, and want to buy community delivery and life cleaning services.
"Being a security guard is becoming more and more involved", "In addition to watching the door, the community property also has to deliver goods, do sanitation for the owners, and evaluate the service level......"
This issue of Micro Stories tells the story of a group of real estate properties facing transformation, who are the most basic service providers for the lives of urban residents and the group that deals with the owners the most.
In the hearts of these security guards, cleaners, and property managers, they do the most miscellaneous work, but their income is decreasing year by year, and even getting more and more rolled, what is the reason behind this? What are the untold stories?
Here are the real stories about them:
01
On Zhao Yu's desk there is a desk calendar issued by the company, which is circled by Zhao Yu on large and small holidays. "These festival companies have different activities, and even Qingming has to send a warm poster to the residents."
On Zhao Yu's computer desktop, there is also an inverted list of upcoming events, "The work is not at all easier than the outside world thinks."
Zhao Yu, 29, is a residential property practitioner in Wuhan. In 2020, Zhao Yu's real estate company laid off employees, and decided to enter the property industry as an operation position after being introduced by a friend.
At that time, Zhao Yu believed that as everyone's requirements for living became higher and higher, property must be a popular direction, and employees would not be easily laid off. In addition, "the property doesn't seem to be so busy, she can get off work on time, and the work content is not complicated, so helping to deal with the relationship within the community should also be beneficial for her to take care of the family."
After entering the industry, Zhao Yu found that everything was not as he thought, "'volume' is the norm of property. ”
For example, in order to improve service and show a professional image, the property owner of the shopping mall will require employees to wear different uniforms according to different positions, and conduct inspections and feedback several times a day to maintain the shopping mall's consumer experience.
As a long-term rental apartment that provides services for young people, before the graduation season is approaching, we will start the "volume" culture and attract fresh graduates with various services and activities.
Many properties in industrial parks have made efforts to improve services, improve digital management, or hold networking activities to help young people solve the problem of blind dates.
Figure | Some industrial parks also incarnate as "matchmakers" and do the work of marriage agencies
As for residential properties, it is "rolled" up with new tricks.
Like Zhao Yu's company, Vanke, the real estate is all over the country, and its self-owned properties are known as the "Whampoa Military Academy" in the industry.
One of the most popular property is that "all management training school recruits have to go to the front line to work", that is, whether it is a 985 or 211 graduate, or a bachelor's or a master's degree, after coming in, they have to go to various property positions in the community to rotate around, "Sometimes the young man who chases behind the business to collect property fees may be a 985 graduate student."
Repair, cleaning and maintenance of community greening have been the foundation, and the fixed activities of New Year's greetings and festivals have been reserved by property companies, and they have begun to march towards "value-added business".
Some property companies provide services such as dog walking, door-to-door cat feeding, and also cooperate with shops around the community to provide low-cost services.
Some properties have begun to engage in the "Most Beautiful Property Person" selection, or regularly write reports to show the owners their work.
Figure | Internal selection of a real estate company
There are also property companies that take out cash income to share dividends with owners.
In addition, there are related services such as leasing, decoration, and entrusted leasing, and some properties have begun to carry out "pension" services.
According to the China Index Institute, the property management penetration rate of China's housing stock in 2020 was only 45.9%.
Despite the rapid development of property in recent years, mainland property is still in its infancy as a whole. Zhao Yu couldn't figure out why property, as a blue ocean industry, was still so rolled.
02
The "volume" of a property comes from its profit model: providing services and charging property fees.
Commercial properties in China are not homegrown products, but are derived from Hong Kong's real estate experience.
In the 60s of the 20th century, Hong Kong's real estate developed rapidly, and there was a special management service for village houses, that is, "property", and in the 90s, due to the financial crisis and land shortage, the sustainable business model of "property", which regularly collects service fees (i.e., property fees), was regarded as the way out for "real estate".
Since 1979, when the mainland began to explore the commercial housing system, the model of "property" was introduced. It can be said that China's property and real estate development are closely linked.
Although with the rapid development of the real estate industry in the mainland, the property has been divided into two directions, commercial and residential, and the property has been divided into two major parts: non-residential property and residential property, the property fee has never gotten rid of the model of "providing services and collecting fees".
In the non-residential property of the government and other public facilities and other assets within the scope of the service, the level of property management determines whether the company can provide other value-added services on the basis of property management to seek higher fees, so it has been "rolling".
Some newly renovated shopping malls, office buildings and other commercial establishments, borrowing from Hong Kong's model, mostly adopt a "self-sustaining" mode of operation, that is, they do not sell to the outside world after completion, and raise awareness through services, and collect rent and property management fees. Property services directly affect rents, so they have been "involuted" in management.
The reasons for residential properties to "roll up" are much more complex.
One of the most important reasons is that the relationship between the owner and the property has changed, and this change is not only a legal regulation, but also an inevitable trend in the real estate industry today.
Since the establishment of the first property company in Shenzhen in 1981, the positioning of the property has been unclear until 1994, when the Ministry of Construction promulgated Order No. 33 "Measures for the Management of New Urban Residential Quarters", which clearly pointed out that "residential communities should gradually implement a socialized and professional management model, and the property management company shall implement professional management in a unified manner".
However, the "Measures for the Administration of New Urban Residential Quarters" does not stipulate the relationship between the property committee and the property, only stipulates that the developer helps the owner select the property, and does not indicate the situation of the owner changing the property.
The property and the owner were on the same page.
Figure | There is a lot of conflict between the property and the owner
In 2003, the State Council's "Property Management Regulations" was promulgated, making it clear that the property is for the owners, and the owners' committee can replace the selection and dismissal of the property service, and the battle for the management of the community came to an end.
But 2003 was also the year when China's real estate industry was established as a pillar industry. The rapid development of the real estate industry, the surge of new homes in various places, and the surge in demand for properties in various places (stipulating that commercial housing must have supporting properties when applying for approval) have led to the vigorous development of the property industry.
And because the property industry had a low threshold at that time and was a labor-intensive industry, it only needed to recruit cleaners and security to meet a certain number of requirements to operate.
Under the lack of control of high growth, the property industry has not been constrained as expected, and disputes with owners are not uncommon.
2018 is an important juncture.
This year, the State Council promulgated the "Property Management Regulations" (revised version), which once again clarified the relationship between property and owners, and the "Civil Code" that came into effect in 2021 gave owners more rights, restricted and regulated properties, and the property boom gradually slowed down.
On the other hand, with the end of the shantytown reform in 2020, the country's real estate has begun to enter the "stock era", that is, the construction of new houses has decreased significantly compared with before, and many cities below the third tier have shown a situation of "not being able to sell".
This also means that the high turnover model of "building-selling-receiving" in real estate has been paused, and real estate developers have begun to find ways to save themselves.
For example, Evergrande wanted to build cars, Longfor and Vanke began to build long-term rental apartments, and some real estate began to get involved in health towns, cultural tourism projects and tourism real estate...... Behind these choices is to transform the previous one-size-fits-all model of "land sales" into a model that can operate sustainably and repeatedly charge.
As a result, property as a renewable resource, and can link to the deeper carrier in the community, and the service provider with a natural sense of trust with urban residents has become the outlet for many real estate developers to bet on.
At the end of 2019, there were only 24 listed companies in the mainland property industry, and by the end of December 2020, 43 property companies had been listed, with a growth rate of more than 190%, of which the top 10 real estate companies except Vanke Service have all been listed or submitted to the table, 75% of the top 20 companies have been listed or submitted to the table, and more than 50 property companies are waiting to be listed.
By the end of 2022, there will be 53 listed property companies, and most of these 53 property companies have handed over the answer of "profit".
However, according to the data, the growth rate of the area under management in 2022 will increase by 886 million square meters compared with last year, and the revenue will increase by 33.43 billion compared with last year, but the total gross profit and total net profit will both decline - which also means that the property is still using the "scale is king" strategy, and scale determines revenue.
This also means that it is necessary to provide high-quality properties in order to maintain the growth of scale at a time when the growth rate of "area under management" is decreasing.
Many property management companies that recruit employees through outsourcing have also begun to recruit their own employees in an effort to get a piece of the competition in this round.
However, there is a significant uneven distribution of domestic properties. The penetration rate and acceptance rate of first- and second-tier cities are significantly higher than those of third- and fourth-tier cities, showing a situation of "saturation of the first and second tiers, and difficulty in charging fees in the third and fourth tiers".
In other words, now that the property has entered the "buyer's market" from the "seller's market", the owners have the right to decide whether to go or stay, so the "volume" is an inevitable state.
03
When the property company "rolls in", the relationship between the owner and the property is eased.
But there are also many contradictions that cannot be reconciled. For example, in developers and properties, the "vacancy fee" is an issue that cannot be bypassed.
According to the current regulations, when the developer acquires the land for planning and construction permits, it must determine a cooperative property management company from the list of local property management associations through bidding and bidding, and submit it, and after the house is delivered to the owner, the property will begin to enter the site to collect property fees for services.
According to the provisions of the 2017 regulations on the collection of property fees for vacant houses: the property that has been completed but has not yet been sold, or the property that has not been handed over to the property buyer on time due to the reasons of the construction unit, the property service fee or property service fund shall be paid in full by the construction unit.
This also leads to many contradictions between developers and properties: developers believe that vacant properties do not enjoy services, and that the "vacancy fee" is unreasonable, especially in residential communities with long de-conversion cycles, large units and multiple units, and high monthly property fees;
More contradictions focus on the fact that the services provided by the property do not match the developer's promise.
Figure | Disputes between the developer and the property are often paid for by the owner
The conflict between the property and the residents cannot be ignored either.
This is particularly evident in the "reminder" of property fees - because the relevant regulations require that the property cannot be levied for more than one year, and the property can only collect fees on a regular basis, many owners refuse to pay because they are dissatisfied with the property service or think that the property fee is unreasonable.
Many property staff are deeply troubled by collections.
Why is it that it is obviously a cooperation to pay for services, so that both sides have suffering? The contradiction comes from the identity of "property".
In 1993, Shenzhen established the first property management association in China, and the following year Shenzhen promulgated the "Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Residential Area Property Management Regulations" and "Urban New Residential District Management Measures", and in 2003, the first part of the "Property Management Regulations" was officially implemented, all of which are positioned as "management" functions for the property.
At that time, most of the property companies were named after the "XX Property Management" company.
At that time, the property management company took care of everything, corresponding to the owners with a "management" attitude, and even replaced the function of the "neighborhood committee" to a certain extent.
The masses also equate "property = deal with anything in the community", and will directly find the property when encountering disputes and complaints from neighbors.
However, with the revision of the relevant property ordinance and the clarification of the property management company as a "service" company, the rights and responsibilities of the property began to change.
Figure | Most property companies are suffixed with "service limited company" and "joint-stock company", and there are few "management companies"
This also leads to the fact that the property can only be a "service party", and has no management rights over many affairs in the community, and there is a problem of "having more than enough heart but not enough power".
Just like in the news of the private demolition of the load-bearing wall in Harbin, the owner wants to demolish the load-bearing wall, and the property can only be stopped within a "reasonable" range, including informing the risk, issuing a written notice, informing the competent department, etc., and shall not deal with the incident in any way that exceeds the boundary.
Figure | Provisions of the Civil Code
In addition, the approval of the property fee is also the focus of conflict between the two parties.
In many new communities, properties are selected by the developer, and the price is determined after accounting under the guidance of the relevant authorities. However, due to the "involution" of the property and the increase in labor costs, many property prices set earlier cannot cover the costs, so many property companies hope to increase the price after the expiration of the service period.
In addition to soliciting opinions from all owners, the price increase also needs to be agreed by the owners who account for more than half of the construction area and more than half of the total number of owners, and take effect after publicity.
However, in many large communities, the number of people is complex, and it is an "impossible" business to only inform all owners and obtain the consent of half of the owners, which is especially obvious in many lease-based communities, so many properties will "give up" on price increases and maintain the operation of the property by reducing labor costs.
The service and reputation of the property will also affect the housing price of the community to a certain extent, and then affect the interests of other owners, resulting in conflicts between the property and the owner.
On the other hand, property work is stressful, labor-intensive, and the ceiling is obvious, which also leads to many small property companies being unable to retain young people.
Those young people who leave will go to manage more well-established large properties, and large properties will rely on service and reputation to set higher property fees, and with the blessing and care of the property, these communities will have a newer appearance, more livable appearance, and higher housing prices.
To some extent, this also represents a trend: as a labor-intensive industry, property will inevitably be divided into new indicators of investment in the future.
With the influx of more and more contestants, the property is either "rolling" or about to usher in innovation.