HDB rolls out resale flat listing service: Should property agents and listing portals be worried?

SINGAPORE: For the past few months, Ms Goh XY has been on the lookout for a new home – without using a property agent.

So far, the experience for her husband and her has been "manageable", said Ms Goh, who is in her 30s.

Now, a new resale flat listing service launched by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has given the couple the idea of possibly taking it a step further – to sell their current flat on their own when the time comes.

“We consulted people about the pros and cons and we also asked around for contacts of property agents just in case,” said Ms Goh. 

“But if there’s a trusted platform that can help us save on (paying the agent's) commission, we would think about it.”

Since May 13, home owners or their appointed property agents have been able to list their flats for sale directly on HDB’s online portal.

The service has not been officially launched, but when it is ready – expected later this month – buyers can browse the listings of resale flats alongside new Build-to-Order (BTO) flats.

The listing service will be free “for the time being”, HDB said. Only buyers with valid eligibility letters will get full access to the service, such as scheduling a viewing appointment. Likewise, only sellers who have registered an intent to sell can list their homes on the HDB portal.

SHOULD PROPERTY AGENTS BE WORRIED?

The HDB listing service could push more customers to buy or sell a home without using a property agent, real estate agencies acknowledged.

This is especially so in “straightforward cases where it is a simple buy and sell”, said Huttons Asia’s senior director of data analytics Lee Sze Teck.

But “many cases involve much more” and require the expertise of a property agent, he added.

For example, transactions that involve contra facilities – which allow sellers to use their sale proceeds to purchase another HDB resale flat – an extension of stay or a divorce.

ERA’s marketing director Marcus Law recalled helping a grieving family to sell a flat belonging to a family member who had died. These involved helping the executor of the will to navigate the necessary steps during a difficult period and managing discussions about the sale sensitively with others in the family.

“You can call HDB to ask what to do but in times like these, you would want a professional third party to help you handle these things,” he said.

“There will always be a low-cost alternative to every product and service in the market, like online stock brokers or (online marketplace) Carousell … but for a house, there are many intricate details that may be better left to a professional,” Mr Law said.

Two other property agents echoed that sentiment, although they acknowledged that there are some concerns within the industry.

“There are some agents who have asked me what to do and whether this would make life more difficult,” said Ms Susan Mariam, senior associate district director at OrangeTee Group.

“For those who provide good service and can handle complicated cases, they will survive. But those who have been focusing only on easy cases, they won’t.”  

Even in less-complicated deals, agents can offer value-added service and customised advice on potential pitfalls, suitable market opportunities and vet interested parties, the property agents told CNA.

Said Ms Susan: “Agents who have been doing straightforward cases will have to be prepared to change their mindsets. We are problem solvers and consultants, not just helping to buy and sell.”

The need to change was echoed by Mr Nicholas Mak, the chief research officer of property portal Mogul.sg.

He said Singapore has too many property agents, with 35,251 agents at the end of last year, up from 32,414 at the end of 2021. But the number of private and public housing transactions fell from 64,574 to 45,779 over the same period.

“Property agents must increase their level of services and professionalism to make themselves more relevant to the consumers,” said Mr Mak.

EXISTING PORTALS SEE NO DIRECT IMPACT

Only two property portals in Singapore allow home owners to market their homes independently, without using an agent. One is Ohmyhome, whose services are free of charge, while Mogul.sg charges a fee of S$150 (US$110) and no commission fee.

Listings on other major property portals, such as PropertyGuru and 99.co, can only be created by real estate agents. 

Agents told CNA they typically spend five- to six-digit figures on these listings a year. While HDB’s free service will serve as an additional avenue for marketing, it remains to be seen if it can rival the established portals and become the go-to platform for agents. 

“We will want to help our clients to maximise exposure. So at the end of the day, we will decide based on which (platform) can give us the most number of enquiries,” said ERA’s senior marketing director Alex Zheng.

In response to queries, the property portals said they welcomed the government’s initiative and saw no direct impact.

PropertyGuru said it looked forward to helping "optimise the property industry" in Singapore, while 99.co said it does not "think about competition much" and sees this as an opportunity to partner with the authorities who have the "same goals".

Both portals did not answer questions about whether they would introduce new features to address the issues of duplicate property listings on their websites and overpricing.

The latter came under the spotlight recently after authorities said they were investigating the listings of two HDB flats for being “misleading” and “unrealistic” in their asking prices of S$2 million.

HDB’s new listing service has a feature that automatically prompts sellers if their listing price is 10 per cent or more than the highest transacted price for nearby units of the same flat type sold in the past six months.

Mogul.sg said it requires those who list their homes for sale on its platform to provide verification of their property ownership. Having a fee of S$150 for the creating of listings also helps to ensure genuine sellers.

The portal is also building artificial intelligence tools that can “further lessen” the reliance on property agents and help lower transaction costs, said chief executive Gerald Sim.

For Ohmyhome, the platform said its use of SingPass as a verification system ensures that listings on its platform are genuine. For sellers who do not have SingPass, it will “manually verify property deeds”.

In addition, its AI-driven system ensures “accurate, real-time e-valuation” and provides sellers with a “reliable appraisal” of their property’s market value.

“This feature supports fair pricing and transparency, paving the way for more informed and confident property transactions on our platform,” Ohmyhome said.