Estate agents in Singapore will now be rated on the service that they provide for both property buyers and sellers as the government tries to raise standards in the industry.
The Singapore government has announced a new system that will allow home movers to review the quality of service provided by estate agents in a bid to improve service.
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The rating will then be publicly displayed, along with the history of property transactions closed by the agent. According to the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), the system is being introduced in order to “enhance professionalism in the industry and transparency to consumers”.
The CEA aims to work with the property industry to gather and publish home movers’ ratings of agents over the long term, in an effort to improve accountability. Singapore is currently home to 28,571 registered estate agents, all of which will be covered by the new rating system when it comes into effect.
Building a stronger industry
The system is expected to go live from the end of this year on all government-subsidised residential transactions. It will then be applied across private residential transactions from the end of 2019. Price, location and the agents in charge of the deal are all elements that are expected to be disclosed on the publicly displayed ratings system.
“By working with our real estate partners on this journey to develop the real estate ‘Industry Transformation Map,’ I’m sure we can build a stronger industry,” said Koh Poh Koon, a member of Parliament from Singapore.
The number of people employed as estate agents in Singapore dropped by 691 in 2017, from 29,262 in 2016, according to the CEA. The number of estate agent branches across the country has fallen by around 7.3% over the past few years to 1,269, which is 100 fewer than in 2016.
