New rules to stop Hong Kong estate agents from misleading buyers

A property sales watchdog has laid out a set of new disclosure rules for estate agents, following concern that some may have exaggerated the popularity of new flats and misled buyers.

"Members of the public have raised concern that some estate agents may have submitted registrations of intent under their own names or their companies' names without a real intention to buy, thus inflating the number and creating a heated atmosphere to attract more purchasers," Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, chairman of the Estate Agents Authority's practice and examination committee, said yesterday.

Starting from September 1, agents will be required to declare to their companies any registrations of intent they have submitted within the day of the submissions. The companies will then be required to make public the number of registrations submitted by their staff. However, the authority conceded that increasing transparency over the actions of agents might not curb inflated demand data, as extra registrations were often submitted under the names of customers rather than agents.

"The origin of inflated registration figures is developers' sale arrangements … Consumers should carefully consider their own needs and not make purchase decisions just based on how many people have submitted registrations," said Ruby Hon Yuen-ping, the authority's chief executive officer.

Stephen Or Hing-chit, vice-president of the Hong Kong Chamber of Professional Property Consultants, welcomed the measure as a first step against agents' malpractices, but added that the Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Authority should step up law enforcement on developers. "There hasn't been any prosecution since the law on first-hand property sales was put in place [in 2013]. This is [not] what consumers see."