Tussle over 'largest real estate agency' title

June 2, 2007

Tussle over 'largest real estate agency' title

HSR says it has used the tagline for its ads but PropNex claims it should be the biggest agency here

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter


WHICH is the biggest of them all?

Property agencies, that is. The honour of being able to claim the title of Singapore's No. 1 agency has sparked a bizarre battle between two heavyweights.

In one corner is HSR International Realtors, which was named the largest real estate agency in Singapore by the Singapore Book of Records (SBOR) last month. The 27-year-old firm and its 5,136 agents, says chief executive (CEO) Patrick Liew, have since used 'the largest real estate agency' as a tagline for advertisements.

On Wednesday, however, a challenger emerged from the opposite corner.

PropNex, now in its seventh year of business, sent out a statement claiming that its 5,686 agents make it 'truly Singapore's largest real estate company' - a slogan it said has always been used on its website and has even been quoted in the media.

'We have been advertised, quoted and accepted as the largest real estate agency in Singapore since 2003,' CEO Mohamed Ismail told The Straits Times yesterday. 'It is not official, but nobody disputed it until last month.'

He said that 'he knew from the beginning that HSR's claim had no merits' because its office and staff sizes were lower than those of PropNex. HSR hit back by saying its claim was based on PropNex's published figure of 3,800 agents.

But PropNex said the figure referred to only 'active agents' - those who have closed a deal within the last year - while it has many more registered agents.

At the heart of this tussle is an issue more weighty than simply the flexing of mathematical muscle.

Mr Mohamed said the conflicting claims have affected credibility and caused confusion among clients. 'We were giving a pitch for a project in Malaysia when the developer asked us if it was true that PropNex had the largest agency, because they had seen HSR's ad.'

He has since taken up the issue with Mr Ong Eng Huat, the SBOR's president, and expects a response by next week.

Mr Ong said that 'while at the time we were quite satisfied that HSR has the largest number of agents, the figure is always changing'. The SBOR is 'reviewing the method of measuring', and it is not prepared to do further audits until it comes up with 'a better form of measurement'.

Meanwhile, it is understood that HSR has been told not to attribute the claim of being the largest agency to the SBOR in its ads.

HSR's Mr Liew told ST yesterday that size does not matter: 'If we really wanted to play the numbers game, it's not difficult. I can also produce 10,000 names, but where does it end?'

For him, 'the important thing is not to be the largest, but to be the best'. 'I lay claim to having the highest-paid agents. This month, my top agent is making at least $1.7 million. I throw my last dollar down that my top 30 agents will outdo their top 30. They cannot beat me.'

Another big gun, ERA, has refrained from jumping into the fray, even though it boasts more than 5,000 agents. 'We are not interested in being the biggest,' said assistant vice-president Eugene Lim. '(Being a) big agency doesn't mean big market share. It's about productivity; it's the number of transactions you do.'

[email protected]

Does size matter?

In one corner is HSR International Realtors, which was named the largest real estate agency here by the Singapore Book of Records last month. In the other corner is PropNex, which sent out a statement claiming that its 5,686 agents make it 'truly Singapore's largest real estate company'.

'We have been advertised, quoted and accepted as the largest real estate agency in Singapore since 2003.'
- MR MOHAMED ISMAIL, the CEO of PropNex, who says conflicting claims have affected credibility and caused confusion among clients

'If we really wanted to play the numbers game, it's not difficult. I can also produce 10,000 names, but where does it end?'
- MR PATRICK LIEW, the CEO of HSR International Realtors, which has been using 'the largest real estate agency' as a tagline for its advertisements