The government is taking a "fundamental re-look" at the entire real estate industry. Speaking in Parliament, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said this includes strengthening measures to curb unscrupulous practices and abuses. Among the measures, the government plans to plug a loop hole on using public housing flats as collateral for loans. Public housing flats are not meant to be used as...
Agents
It will help manage real estate portfolios of wealthy investors FORMER Savills analyst Ku Swee Yong hopes to shake up the real estate scene here with his new agency International Property Advisor (IPA). IPA aims to connect high net worth individuals to suitable real estate investment products. 'We want to provide a service to represent the private wealth that goes into real estate investments,' said Mr...
THE Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers, and Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies will launch a Global Real Estate Specialist course next month. The course, which will be conducted quarterly, is part of a programme for real estate practitioners who want to make their mark in foreign markets - in particular, the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and some parts of Asia. They will learn how best to...
Real estate agencies are gearing up for tighter rules in their industry by sending agents back to the classroom. Several are getting their agents to take existing accreditation tests before the government introduces a mandatory industry examination sometime this year. To improve their chances of passing the tests, agents have been attending preparatory courses. The talk is that agents who already gained...
NATIONAL Development Minister Mah Bow Tan is on a three-day working trip to Hong Kong, starting today. He will meet senior officials from the Transport and Housing Bureau, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, and the Estate Agents Authority, to learn more about their experiences in regulating real estate agents, said the Ministry of National Development in a statement yesterday. The ministry had announced...
Moves to clamp down on illegal subletting of HDB flats should not penalise only the owner, property agents told The Sunday Times. Tenants and rogue property agents who close these deals should also be held responsible, they suggested. They were responding to a case that made the headlines two weeks ago in which the HDB repossessed three flats linked to a man, Mr Poh Boon Kay, who also owned five private...
FIRMS registered with the Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies (SAEA) will need to have professional indemnity insurance before they can renew their accreditation. A minimum limit of indemnity of $500,000 is recommended under the new rule that comes into effect on April 1. The move by the SAEA is to make consumers more confident when they engage estate agents. All commission agreements and exclusive...
From April 1, estate agencies must have a valid Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance to renew their accreditation status with the Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies (SAEA). The SAEA recommends a minimum limit of indemnity of S$500,000. SAEA said the move is designed to strengthen consumer confidence in estate agents who are believed to handle eight out of 10 real estate transactions. Having a...
A survey has found that almost eight in 10 people who used housing agents here encountered "bad service" of some sort. The survey by Ngee Ann Polytechnic found that 77 per cent of respondents said they met with bad service from their agents. Some of the respondents' top grouses were that their agents failed to negotiate a good price, that they gave the wrong advice and that they were late for...
Industry players say the upcoming new measures to improve standards of the real estate sector here will not affect the property prices. The government has just finished gathering suggestions for a new regulatory framework for the industry. It will likely be introduced by the second half of next year. Industry practitioners said the government will likely introduce a central registry to list all...