New HDB resale listing service may improve price transparency, lessen reliance on agents

Bigger property portals such as PropertyGuru unlikely to be too affected by the move, analysts say

May 13, 2024

THE resale market for public housing is likely to see less sudden spikes or “outlier” asking prices with the introduction of the Housing & Development Board’s (HDB) new resale flat listing service that has a built-in price-monitoring feature, agents said.

The government service, offered free for now, may also result in less reliance on property agents, said analysts.

The service, which was soft launched on Monday (May 13), will enable homeowners or their property agents to list their homes for sale directly on the HDB Flat Portal. Flat buyers will also be able to compare new and resale flats on the platform, on top of using its existing loan listing service and financial calculators.

Market watchers reckon that the new service may help to prevent price manipulation and promote market stability. A built-in feature 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.

The announcement of the new HDB service came four days after the government said it was looking into listings advertising HDB flats for sale at over S$2 million. One listing for a non-existent “jumbo flat” in Sengkang was taken down; another listing for a flat in Toa Payoh was flagged as “unrealistic”. The Sengkang listing was some S$800,000 over the combined last transacted price of two flats in the area, while the Toa Payoh flat was listed at nearly S$500,000 more than the highest transacted price in the area.

On HDB’s portal, sellers are allowed to post only one listing, unlike other online platforms that may display multiple listings of the same unit being marketed by different agents or with varying prices, noted Christine Sun, OrangeTee group’s chief researcher and strategist.

“This can create a false perception that the area is in high demand and many units are up for sale in the same location, leading to inflated prices if buyers believe they have chosen the lowest-priced units among several listings,” she said.

“The careful monitoring and flagging of unrealistic pricing can ensure that asking prices align more closely to price trends or valuations in the vicinity, thus reducing sudden price spikes in specific locations,” said Sun.

Mohan Sandrasegaran, Singapore Realtors Inc (SRI) head of research and data analytics, said: “Over time, this could lead to a stabilisation of prices in the resale market, as it curbs speculative pricing and helps maintain consistency and transparency in how flats are valued.”

In response to media queries, HDB said it “reserves the right to remove listings which have unrealistic pricing or contain misleading information” from the portal, and seek clarifications from the sellers or their property agents.

“The government will not condone behaviour…that seeks to disrupt the market or fan consumer sentiment,” said the agency.

OrangeTee’s Sun pointed out that to use the platform, flat sellers must have a valid Intent to Sell, and buyers must have a valid HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter. “This ensures that the platform filters out buyers and sellers who have no real intention to transact,” she said.

The result is “a tighter, and more controlled setting that comprises mainly genuine buyers and sellers”, acknowledged Lim Yong Hock, PropNex Realty key executive officer. “However, it could also potentially mean that sellers may not be tapping the entire demand pool for their flat as some interested buyers may not necessarily have a valid HFE Letter yet, and will not be able to contact them,” he said.

Less dependence

Some analysts believe that the new resale flat listing service may also lead to less reliance on property agents.

Home sellers looking to save on the agent commission fee may choose to market their flats for sale independently on HDB’s portal, noted Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul.sg. Once the resale listing is posted, they will also be able to create viewing appointments.

“This would potentially increase the competition for property agents, which will force them to increase value-added services and the level of professionalism (provided) to consumers,” said Mak.

That is not to say property agents will lose their relevance, Huttons senior director of data analytics Lee Sze Teck emphasised.

Some flat owners may choose to do it themselves in simple “buy and sell” cases, similar to the insurance industry where “simple products” can be purchased off the shelf, said Lee.

“However, many cases involve much more,” said Lee. For example, a transaction may involve contra facilities, which enables the seller to use their proceeds to buy another HDB resale flat, an extension of time, or a divorce.

Tech-savvy individuals and those with market knowledge and experience may not need a middleman’s help. But older owners and those who lack confidence and knowledge in managing their property sales may prefer to have an agent to steer them through the process, said Sun.

HDB’s resale listing service is unlikely to have too great an impact on bigger property portals such as PropertyGuru, 99.co or EdgeProp, said Lee of Huttons.

“The HDB portal projects itself as a free portal with verified listings and that will likely reduce the chances of a scam,” he said. But these bigger platforms are in the Council for Estate Agencies’ Alliance for Action on Accurate Property Listings, which aims to eliminate the longstanding problem of dummy or duplicate property listings to better serve property consumers and raise the productivity of property agents.

In response to queries from The Business Times, a PropertyGuru spokesperson said the company welcomed the government initiative, and looked forward to “partnering with HDB and continue the mission to help optimise the property industry in Singapore”. It did not comment on questions on listing prices or agents’ commissions.

Some analysts observed that it may be possible for HDB’s listing service to include rentals.

The strict verification process could also reduce the possibility of scams, said Lee. Between July 2023 and January 2024, for instance, at least 389 victims lost S$2.4 million in a scam involving the impersonation of property agents.

The police said in February that victims were pressured by fake property agents into making payments to secure the viewing or rental of properties.

When asked about future plans for HDB’s portal, the agency said the current features of the resale flat listing service aims to “streamline and simplify” the buying and selling process, while ensuring that flat listings are verified, non-duplicative and accurate. “We will review the offerings and features of the (service) in future, as part of our regular reviews, taking into consideration public/industry feedback.”

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