ERA To Focus On Selling New Property Launches

The Code SG

ERA to focus on selling new property launches

By MELISSA TAN

REAL estate agency ERA is shifting its focus to selling new launches as weak property market sentiment eats away at the resale segment, its traditional mainstay.

"We're trying to get more new projects for the agents to sell," said Mr Jack Chua, chief executive of ERA.

"We also encourage agents to do more lower-quantum deals and focus on rental."

In his first interview after the agency was bought by private equity firm Northstar Group in August last year, Mr Chua said that home loan curbs imposed in June had dented the agency's sales.

Compliance costs are also up, ERA recently spent a six-figure sum to implement a system that makes sure its agents do not call people who are on the Do-Not-Call Registry, he said at the firm's Toa Payoh office.

However, he pointed out that ERA's 20 to 30 per cent drop in revenue this year was still much less than the overall market's 50 to 60 per cent plunge in resale transactions.

One factor cushioning the sales decline was that the current softness in the property market was due more to policy decisions than to an economic crisis, he said.

"I've gone through so many cycles, 1996, 2008. If it's policy-driven, we still can overcome it, but if it's a crisis, then it's beyond your control.

"Now we're still able to do something."

One step ERA has taken to cope with weak market sentiment is to train staff even more, he said.

For instance, the firm has developed training programmes that teach agents how to sell properties in overseas markets such as Iskandar, in Malaysia's Johor state, and Australia.

Its network across the Asia-Pacific region has also helped it to sell local projects to foreign buyers. "Mainland Chinese buyers are coming back. We also recently took the Corals (@ Keppel Bay) project to Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysians are buying."

ERA is now gunning to be the marketing agent for more new launches, which Mr Chua said make up a rising share of revenue.

Apart from local launches, it is also working on becoming the marketing agent for overseas projects by Singapore developers, he said.

"We already do lots of new projects and that will help us."

For instance, ERA has marketed sold-out projects such as The Hillford at Jalan Jurong Kechil and The Inflora at Flora Drive.

Mr Chua said that ERA does not plan to list this year but still expects to list within the next three years.

Singapore-based private equity firm Northstar Group bought ERA last year from Hersing executive chairman Harry Chua.

Money, Invest, The Straits Times, Saturday, May 10, 2014, Pg C2