About 50 resale listings removed from HDB Flat Portal
About 50 listings for resale Housing Board flats have been removed from the HDB Flat Portal for having unrealistic pricing or misleading information.
These accounted for about 5 per cent of total active listings as at June 26, HDB said on July 10. About 1,000 resale flats have been listed on the portal since its soft launch on May 13.
HDB said about half of the listings that were removed involved flats that were priced unrealistically, without elaborating. Eight listings were reinstated after the users revised their asking prices.
HDB said it “reserves the right to moderate listings on the resale flat listing service, and to remove any inappropriate and/or inaccurate content without prior notice”.
For the listings to be reinstated on the portal, sellers or their property agents must revise the listing price or correct misleading information.
HDB did not elaborate on the kind of misinformation that led to the removal of some listings.
But the terms and conditions on its website state that it can remove listings that include discriminatory content, false advertisement or material unrelated to the sale of the flat.
Officially launched on May 30, the resale flat listing service allows owners or their property agents to list their homes for sale directly on the portal on the HDB website.
The portal has a feature where sellers will be prompted if their listing price is at least 10 per cent above the highest transacted price of similar units nearby in the past six months.
This is meant to help sellers make an informed decision on their listed price, which will promote a more sustainable property market in the long run, said HDB.
The portal received about 366,500 visits from May 30 to June 18, averaging more than 18,300 visits a day, HDB said.
“HDB will continue to monitor the listings closely and will not hesitate to remove listings with unrealistic pricing as well as inappropriate and/or inaccurate content,” it added.
The resale flat listing service, which is currently free, aims to create a transparent, reliable and trusted marketplace for resale flats for sellers, buyers and property agents.
To ensure genuine listings, sellers must have an intent to sell in order to list their homes.
Listings will be automatically filled with details such as the address, flat type, floor area and floor plan from HDB’s data.
Buyers will need an HDB Flat Eligibility letter – which indicates their eligibility to buy a flat, receive grants and financing options – to schedule viewings.
Property agent Pamela Chin, who is with ERA Realty, said she put up a listing for a three-generation flat in Tampines on the portal in May, but has not received any inquiries from interested buyers.
“The bulk of the inquiries come from PropertyGuru,” she said, adding that the HDB resale flat listing service allows only a 200-character description.
Meanwhile, senior manager Jessica Chai, who is trying her hand at marketing her unit herself, said she has received about 20 inquiries since listing her flat in May.
The 40-year-old said this was in contrast to the spam she received when marketing her four-room flat in Punggol on other platforms.
Portals such as Ohmyhome and Carousell let home owners put up listings themselves for free, whereas only real estate agents can put up listings on major property portals such as PropertyGuru.
Ms Chin said PropertyGuru is currently more useful for her, despite her having to pay fees, because more views come from the platform.
She said the sellers decided to price the 119 sq m flat for around $1 million, even though the highest transaction in the area stood at $965,888, due to the scarcity of three-generation units.
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