Customer ratings and transactions of property agents to be made public

Romesh Navaratnarajah9 Feb 2018

Housing Solutions in Singapore

The Real Estate Industry Transformation Map aims to improve transparency and accountability in the property sector. 

In a bid to improve transparency and accountability in the property sector, the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) will work with agencies to publish customer ratings of real estate agents, revealed Second Minister for National Development Desmond Lee in unveiling the latest roadmap for the real estate industry.

Property deals closed by agents will also be made available for viewing by home buyers and sellers, starting with public housing transactions by end-2018 and private residential transactions by end-2019.

SEE ALSO: Slight rise in number of property agents this year

The CEA-led workgroup will also work towards making it easier for companies to access property-related data, so that they could automate administrative processes in property transactions, reported Channel NewsAsia.

Lee said data from Singapore Land Authority, the Ministry of Manpower and Housing and Development Board will be progressively made available later in the year.

“If we do this right, we can minimise the use of hardcopy documents such as cheques and cashier’s orders, all of which are time-consuming to process.”

He noted that the facilities management and property transaction services sectors have been identified in the industry transformation map (ITM) as having “immense potential for transformation”, especially in the areas of workforce upskilling and adoption of technology.

Meanwhile, property agency ERA Realty Network has expressed its support for the ITM.

“ERA has been in the real estate agency business for 36 years. As one of the largest agencies with significant market share, we are fully supportive of the Real Estate Industry Transformation Map (REITM). We look forward to work with the authorities and various stakeholders to move our industry forward together,” it said.

Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin explained that the ITM’s objective is to improve the efficiency of property transactions and not replace jobs, reported the Business Times.

“We don’t set out to take away jobs; that’s not the objective,” he said during a panel discussion at the 2018 ERA Asia Pacific Business Conference, which was attended by over 2,000 agents and brokers from across the region.

And while agents may consider the government “heartless” for this move, the end-goal of the ITM is to improve the quality of life for all Singaporeans by making property transactions pain-free, he added.

 

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg

Ms tan
Jan 17, 2019
This article was 1 year ago. But I still want to add on. Some agents are really rude. I enquired about 1 unit and I said that I saw a recent transacted price at this particular amount. This agent Francis Chong just replied “So?” . I was stunned, not knowing what to say next. So I just say, I would like to offer the same? Guess what? He just throw me off and says “you can go look for THAT Agent which offer this”!! OMG. I don’t know about others, I feel it’s very rude reply. So much so that I have to write a review or comment some where. And I hardly give negative comments in my life! It’s all about customer service. You can simply reply “that amount does not match”.
Timothy
Feb 16, 2018
I agree with all the comments here. On a separate note and sharing from experience, THE MORE TRANSACTIONS AN AGENT CLOSES DOES NOT NECESSARILY TRANSLATE TO BETTER SERVICE. 1) Scrutinize the transactions closed and check the amounts closed at, and compare if for the area, is the agent closing usually lower. If indeed he/she has a record of closing lower comparatively, it could very well mean the agent is closing lower to secure the deal at your expense.2) An agent who closes many transactions, could likely provide poor service in that he/she is too busy to bother with service. Being so busy could translate to poor attitude, for example being late for appointments and not having the courtesy to call to inform and never apologizing but are full of lame excuses when queried, missing appointments, giving lousy advice as they are too busy to concentrate.3) Lastly these agents with many transactions are of course very experienced. And it has been my bad experience to have encountered such agents. They use their experience negatively, for example asking for more commission when the transaction price comes in higher. Or they "play mind games" with you to angle for higher commission. On the contrary, the lesser-transactions agent tends to be more honest and above board.
Mr No agent
Feb 11, 2018
The government should take the lead to help buyers and sellers DIY property buying and selling with a dedicated portal.
Tim
Feb 10, 2018
I totally agree with Tan Yew Hock, the quality of service can vary a lot from one agent to another. It's hard to find which agent is good and which agent is not and this is great news for customers to get agent reviews in a few years.A friend and I discovered this problem almost two years ago.
Tan yew hock
Feb 09, 2018
Recently I have contacted a few agents and I can said, service from them are disappointment. Enquiring about the unit and if you are not eligible, they will just hand up your call. I really hope one day there will be an app that no longer need assistance from them.
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