7 August 2017 - In an exclusive feature with HKTDC, Joshua Han Miller discusses the future of the real estate industry and the company model that has disrupted the existing industry.
He explains, "We’d always known the agency industry was a challenging one – fraught with fragmented information, poor standards, and frustrated clients,” he continued. “So we decided to build a new business model for an agency that better aligns agents’ incentives and focuses on accurate, aggregated data. It’s taken a few years, but now we are quickly growing, with 75 agents today and over 125 per cent growth in the last year alone.”
Knowledge-sharing is perhaps the biggest differentiator from other agencies, as it means a client can see dozens or hundreds of options by working with one OKAY.com agent, instead of having to work with 10 different agents to evaluate the market. “It’s applying the principle of a knowledge economy to create a competitive advantage for our agents.”
Under conventional arrangements, agents would keep property listings to themselves, only giving out information when necessary as a means of protecting their full commission, Josh explained. This wasn’t fair either to the buyer or seller, renter or landlord, as customers would only see that agent’s listings, rather than the full spectrum of properties available.
Hong Kong has a large real estate industry, generating US$1.4 billion in commissions, but it was fragmented, inefficient and frustrating for consumers.
As appeared in HKTDC. Click here to read the full story.
