Property agents in Singapore grapple with rising costs amid fierce competition
IN SINGAPORE’S fiercely competitive property market, success comes with a hefty price tag.
Just ask veteran property agent Nicole Teo, who spent close to S$50,000 in 2023 on advertising and listing fees – more than double what she paid a decade ago.
Teo’s spending, which includes paying to boost listings on property portals, has become essential for staying visible in an increasingly saturated industry grappling with a slowing property market.
“It’s the cost of doing business,” she said.
The 49-year-old deputy branch associate director, who has consistently been among the top 1 per cent of agents in OrangeTee & Tie, said aggressive marketing is no longer optional but a necessity for closing deals.
Teo is not alone. Property agents told The Straits Times (ST) that their operational costs are rising, with platforms such as PropertyGuru introducing paid features such as Boost, Turbo and Promoted Listings, which increase the visibility of their listings but can cost thousands in subscription fees.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Tuesday, 12 pm
Property Insights
Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.
ST spoke to 10 property agents who said they have had to spend more – on things including personal branding campaigns, PropertyGuru subscriptions and video production – to get noticed.
These marketing expenses have risen sharply over the past few years, driven by intense competition.
Fewer homes are being sold, yet the number of property agents here has risen. In other words, there is a bigger pool of agents chasing fewer deals.
SEE ALSO
At the start of 2024, there were 35,251 registered property agents, up from 34,427 in 2023 and 32,414 in 2022, according to data from the Council for Estate Agencies.
In 2023, a total of 19,044 private homes (excluding executive condominiums) were sold, down from 21,890 units in 2022 and 33,557 in 2021.
In the first half of 2024, private residential sales volume also fell, dipping by 3.8 per cent to 9,145 units, from 9,509 units in the first half of 2023 – the lowest semi-annual volume recorded since the first half of 2020.
The number of Housing Board resale flats sold has also been falling year on year since 2021, although the number of transactions started to creep up in 2024, with a total of 14,420 resale flats sold in the first half of the year, slightly higher than the 13,493 in the same period in 2023.
ERA Realty Network senior marketing director Jack Lin said his digital marketing costs ballooned from about S$6,000 in 2021 to around S$30,000 in 2023, just to maintain the same level of visibility.
He also paid a marketing consultant S$9,000 in April to design and run a personal branding campaign for him to increase his reach for a year, after he attended a free online marketing workshop for property agents delivered by the same consultant.
But Lin put the branding campaign on hold in July after it failed to bring him more leads.
“We have created a very big market for people who target their services at us property agents. People are offering workshops on closing deals and negotiation skills. And once your colleagues go for one of these, you feel like you need to follow suit,” said Lin.
Agents also said that many of their expenses are driven by PropertyGuru, Singapore’s dominant property portal.
For Teo, advertising costs have jumped from 10 to 15 per cent of her revenue a decade ago to some 30 to 40 per cent today, with the sharpest increases in the past two to three years, she said.
“In a fast-moving market, listings don’t stay long, so costs are lower. But in a slower market, not only do you spend more to keep a property listed, but you also have to boost your listings more aggressively,” said Teo.
She added that agents typically have to spend thousands over the course of a year to keep their PropertyGuru listings consistently “at the top of the page”.
Wendeline Goh, who is from ERA, said she has chalked up more than S$40,000 in expenses for PropertyGuru’s packages and advertisement credits since the start of 2024 – double the amount she spent in the whole of 2019.
It is a big investment, but it leads to more leads and clients, said Goh. All 10 property agents whom ST spoke to declined to reveal their earnings.
ST compiled and compared the various price packages – Standard, Advance, Premier and Business – offered by PropertyGuru from 2019 to 2024 and found that the Advance package saw the most significant price hike of 87 per cent, from S$2,380 for a year-long subscription in 2019 to nearly S$4,500 in 2024.
The higher-end packages offer more concurrent listings and ad credits. The price for a Business package rose from S$11,980 in 2019 to nearly S$20,600 in 2024, a 72 per cent increase.
This data shows how the pricing of agent packages has soared. For context, in 2009, a premium subscription cost S$380 a year, although this tier is no longer available.
Responding to these concerns, PropertyGuru’s Singapore country manager Tan Tee Khoon emphasised the value that the platform offers to agents.
“In Singapore’s fast-moving and competitive real estate market, visibility is essential for agents to stand out and attract potential buyers, especially during periods when transaction volumes fluctuate,” said Tan.
He explained that the platform’s paid features are designed to enhance exposure and lead generation, adding that nearly 30,000 leads are generated daily for agents.
“Turbo, for example, provides up to eight times more exposure, compared with standard listings, helping agents reach more relevant home seekers and close deals faster,” said Tan.
“Turbo and Boost listings target property seekers whose search criteria closely match the listings, ensuring a more focused approach, while Promoted Listings expand visibility to a broader audience with similar search preferences.”
Tan pointed to a high agent renewal rate of 80 per cent in the first three months of 2024 as a sign that agents continue to find value in these services.
Agents also say they have to spend on home staging and video production to attract clients.
Both Teo and Goh said they spend thousands each year on this.
“It’s not just about listing properties any more. You have to create property videos, stage homes, manage repairs and handle social media marketing. All of this adds up,” said Teo.
Teo has been staging homes for 10 years, a practice she started after being inspired by the real estate market in California. For empty homes, she spends up to S$2,000 a month hiring furniture rental companies for staging.
While staging and video production are costly, these help buyers visualise how a space can be used and make a sale more likely, she said.
“For new agents, it’s important to understand that this is a business, and you have to invest in it to succeed,” added Teo, who oversees a team of 36 associates.
“Long-term success requires investment in the right tools and strategies.” THE STRAITS TIMES
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
