Three key residential division execs to leave Knight Frank

Singapore

THREE senior executives from Knight Frank's residential business will be exiting the property firm, leaving leadership in its project marketing team particularly hard hit.

According to an internal memo seen by The Business Times, Tan Tee Khoon, key executive officer (KEO) of agency arm KF Property Network and head of residential project marketing for Knight Frank, will leave in June to pursue other professional interests.

Director of residential project marketing Alice Tan and head of sales for residential project marketing Edison Ong have also resigned, with their last days in end May and early June, respectively.

The KEO appointment will be announced when it is made, according to the memo. Knight Frank's group managing director Wendy Tang will oversee the residential project marketing department in the interim.

Dr Tan was KEO of KF Property Network for over seven years, and has headed residential project marketing since September 2013 except between April 2015 and June 2017.

Ms Tan had served as Knight Frank's director and head of research and consultancy between mid-June 2012 and June 2018 before taking on her current role. Mr Ong joined Knight Frank in May 2015.

According to the Council of Estate Agencies (CEA) numbers, KF Property Network's numbers have gone down to some 632 agents at the start of this year, from 933 at the end of 2014. Savills Residential's headcount was 672 as at the start of this year.

A veteran property consultant observed that Knight Frank is one of only a few property consultancies that still retain their own associate agency business.

He added that residential sales has been challenging, given that it "thrives on numbers". For project marketing, developers are looking for agencies with strong manpower, while agencies need to provide infrastructure such as information technology (IT) platforms for agents.

Also, brokerages such as ERA and PropNex - with about 6,400 and 7,400 agents at the beginning of the year respectively - have entered the residential project marketing fray as well in recent years, adding to competition.

The property consultant said: "You have those small players which are very niche and have serviced their clientele for a very long time, and you have those those that are very big, but those that are in between - it's more challenging to find a niche."