The ongoing haze crisis is putting additional pressure on an already sluggish housing market, with some property agents from Singapore’s largest real estate agency turning to unusual ways to entice buyers to attend open houses and drive sales.
ERA Realty Network agent Kenny Neo told PropertyGuru that he began offering free car washing services during open houses after noticing that property viewings had dropped significantly in recent weeks, by as much as 20 percent. He said the decline was mainly due to the haze, as well as the slowing market and end-of-year school examinations.
“When we call our clients to follow up on leads, many are reluctant to come view houses because they are worried about being exposed to the haze for several hours. They are also concerned about their children’s health and do not want to bring them outside,” noted the 28-year-old.
“Viewings for landed properties have been greatly affected because buyers looking at a particular estate have to spend some time walking outside to see a few listings,” he added.
He revealed that the idea to wash cars came to him and his team after they made a joke about the state of their dirty cars. It struck them that they could actually provide such services to potential buyers, which he called “a sweetener”.
They started offering it last week at a bungalow in the Bedok area, which has been on the market for the past three weeks.
The 3-storey property sits on 4,000 sq ft of land and is priced at $9 million, said Neo, adding that it has enough space to park six cars on the porch.
Meanwhile, viewings have risen threefold, from around five groups to 15 different groups per day on the weekend since they began washing cars.
To enjoy a free car wash, one does not actually have to make a purchase. “But we will first follow up to see if they have a certain degree of interest in the house,” said Neo.
They are currently marketing a few bungalows in the area and plan to extend this service to other properties, if size permits.
Despite its success, Neo said the idea wouldn’t work for smaller landed homes due to a lack of space for cars. “We’ll just have to come up with different ideas for other projects,” he noted.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
