Eleven real estate agencies have joined hands to launch an electronic network that will provide exclusive property listings and transactions details in real time.
Called the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX), the network enables agents to access up-to-date information like transacted prices and rentals.
The SRX, which was soft-launched in July this year, is already seeing an average of about 300 transactions a day.
Property agents say this will help to raise professionalism in the real estate industry and provide greater transparency.
Commenting on the sidelines of the event, some property agents says the fresh round of measures to cool the property sector will definitely affect home buying interest.
In recent years, several real estate agencies have set up offices or conducted roadshows in China to woo foreign buyers, while others organise tours for Chinese buyers to view properties in Singapore.
They say the new cooling measures introduced will hurt demand in the short term, but the prospects in China are still bright.
Mr Mark Teo, Senior Group Division Director of ERA, said instead of the current 20 percent of foreigners buying property in Singapore, the trend may decline to 10 to 15 percent in the future.
Mr Tan Kok Keong, Research and Consultancy Director of Orange Tee, said: “Our expansion into China is not just a one day affair. We are going into China on a long-term basis, we do not expect to scale back our business. In fact, in times like this it’s an excellent opportunity for us to actually educate buyers.”
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 8 Dec 2011