After the introduction of the new rules regarding marketing of the housing board resale flats, the property agents will have to market them properly.
According to the Council for Estate Agencies, the property firms should not refer to the actual valuation of the flat while advertising about it. They can only mention the sellers’ asking price.
As per CEA or the Council for Estate Agencies licensing circular on April 23:
“As a salesperson would not know the valuation of an HDB flat when he is marketing it for the seller, he is not allowed to use phrases such as ‘$0 COV’, ‘$0 Cash’, ‘Low COV’, ‘Low Cash’, ‘Below Valuation’, and any other phrases with similar effect in advertisements.”
This circular came after the government’s words on HDB flats, that they will acknowledge valuation requests only once a buyer and seller have decided a price for flat.
Prior to this circular, the sellers used the official valuation for their flat for negotiation. Due to this, the focus was on the cash over valuation amounts instead of the amount of the flat. Cash over valuation is the price a buyer has to pay above the valuation of flat.
The property agents used to advise the property owners to agree on a reasonable offer by considering the valuation of the flat and sellers’ asking price. However now they will only have to refer to the price proposed by the buyer.
It might affect the profit of the property agent as well as the flat seller but quite profitable for the person buying it since they can get it at a lower price.
