Mass exodus of property agents sees OrangeTee & Tie dropped from top three biggest agencies

OrangeTee & Tie was ranked the third-largest agency here last year, but it suffered an exodus of around 25 per cent of its sales team. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM GOOGLE MAPS

Joyce Lim
Senior Correspondent
Published
Jan 14, 2022, 5:58 PM SGT

SINGAPORE - The poaching battle among real estate firms to expand their sales forces amid the sizzling hot property market last year has sent one high-profile agency tumbling out of the top three ranking.

OrangeTee & Tie was ranked the third-largest agency here last year, but it suffered an exodus of around 1,000 agents - or 25 per cent of its sales team.

About 700 of the departing agents were with  Navis Living Group - a network of real estate agents. Their move to join Huttons Asia helped lift the firm to third spot and, in turn, shove OrangeTee & Tie down to fourth in the league table.

Navis co-founder Stuart Chng was one of those who left.

He declined to say why he left OrangeTee & Tie but said Huttons has a strong leadership team, which has &ldquo a clear direction for the future growth of all the agency and their realtors&rdquo , and there is a good culture of unity among its leaders.

Navis now has 1,000 agents with Huttons, Mr Chng told The Straits Times.
He added: " Mark Yip, our CEO (chief executive officer), is very sharp in his thinking, has great strategic vision and executes decisions very swiftly, which is key for thriving as an agency."

OrangeTee & Tie chief executive Steven Tan declined to respond to questions about the mass exodus of its sales force, but said that some agents who left last year have returned and he hopes to recruit new staff this year.

Last year' s booming property market sparked a recruitment war between estate agencies, with all manner of inducements rolled out to entice agents to jump ship.
The benefits for agents switching firms ranged from thousands of dollars in sign-on bonuses to having their resignation penalties at rival companies fully paid.

In recent years, larger real estate agencies have been involved in marketing most new projects, which is why they are fighting to increase their headcounts and cement their market positions, said industry watchers.

PropNex Realty has maintained its position as the largest agency here, with 10,796 agents as at Jan 1, up from 8,918 at the beginning of last year (2021), noted the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).

ERA Singapore is next with 8,144 agents, followed by Huttons with 4,154, up from 3,210.

OrangeTee & Tie, which had 4,122 agents last year, dropped to fourth place, with 3,087 sales people  at  the beginning of this year.

A CEA spokesman said 94 per cent of property agents in 2021 had their registration renewed for 2022, while there were 1,906 new registrations commencing from Jan 1.

Some analysts said the new cooling measures, which raised the additional buyer' s stamp duty for Singaporeans acquiring a second home to 17 per cent, and 25 per cent for a third property, could put bigger agencies at an advantage.

" If cooling measures slow down sales, developers will rely even more on the bigger agencies to have a wider reach to buyers," said Mr Nicholas Mak, ERA Realty' s head of research and consultancy.

" Those with offices overseas and who can bring in foreign buyers  would have a competitive advantage."

But Mr Bruce Lye, co-founder of fifth-placed SRI, which has 1,141 agents, feels  that the new cooling measures could shrink the opportunities in the market and make it harder for bigger agencies to retain their sales forces.

" The smaller-sized agencies are more nimble and able to efficiently adapt to the market conditions with simple strategic implementations," said Mr Lye.

However, Mr Mak said bigger firms would have the means to invest in technology in terms of having better mobile apps and providing the software and digital marketing support for agents.

PropNex Realty chief executive Ismail Gafoor said that since the pandemic, more agents know that they " need to be supported by good proptech solutions and world class training to remain relevant" .

Last year, PropNex, which has about 30 per cent of the overall sales force in Singapore, brokered more than 50 per cent of HDB resale deals and about 45 per cent of the units at new project launches and in the resale market, said Mr Gafoor, who aims to have 12,000 sales people by next year.

This year, it formed the Good Class Bungalows and Prestige Landed Property Division in a bid to grow the firm' s market share in this niche segment, he added.