Property sector sees fewer signing up as agents

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

SINGAPORE — Reflecting the sluggish property market, fewer real estate agents are joining the industry, as more are letting their licences expire. Latest figures from the Council of Estate Agencies (CEA) released yesterday showed that as of Jan 1, there are a total of 30,830 registered real estate agents here, down 3 per cent from 31,783 at the start of last year.

Among the registered agents this year, 3,006 were new entrants, fewer than 3,336 last year. At the same time, 3,959 agents did not renew their registration this year, up from 3,382 last year.

The number of registered real estate agencies has also fallen from 1,425 to 1,369 over the past year.

Real estate agencies and agents interviewed lamented that the industry is going through a lean spell, pointing to the record low number of launches in the past year. Adding that transactions had slowed to a crawl, they said the cooling measures and loan curbs rolled out by the authorities had kept prospective buyers away, with many also waiting on the sidelines for property prices to fall further.

Mr Jeff Foo, president of the Institute of Estate Agents, said: “The market is tough and people (in the industry) have commitments. They can’t make money and it can be costly being an agent, with advertising and petrol costs, and these are expenses that are not tax deductible.”

He noted that attendance at courses organised by his institute for real estate agents had also been falling. “Some training providers don’t even have enough numbers to start a class,” he said.

PropNex chief executive officer Mohamed Ismail Gafoor said the number of new launches had dropped by about half compared with a year ago.

“There is now even less (business) to go around,” he added. His firm is trying to mitigate the situation by focusing on overseas, as well as industrial and commercial transactions.

Those remaining in the industry said they are hoping to stick it out through the slump. Ms Judy Goh, a property agent, said: “The market is practically dead ... I’m now working only on clients that I know.”

Another agent, Genie, who declined to give her full name, said these days, it takes two to three months to close a rental transaction and even longer for sales. “I still like this line, but I am more (involved in) rentals now as it is easier,” she said.

As property cycles come and go, Mr Mohamed Ismail said the troughs would help to consolidate the industry. “At the end of the day, this might be healthy ... There will be good times and bad times.”

Figures from the CEA, which began operations in October 2010, were available since end-January 2011.

The number of new entrants to the industry reached a high of 4,567 on Jan 1, 2013 — only 10 days before the Government announced sweeping measures to halt “prices running away from fundamentals”.

The total number of property agents was at its lowest in January 2012. Then, there were 30,577 agents, including only 2,733 new entrants.


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.