Property agent Ricacorp removes 9,000 fake listings as it takes aim at rampant industry practice
Other rivals however deny that they engage in such behaviour, saying they abide by rules set by the industry watchdog
Ricacorp Properties, one of the biggest real estate agencies in Hong Kong, has taken down thousands of false or duplicate property listings from its website, saying it wants to “stamp out the shady industry practice”.
Other property agencies, however, denied fabricating or duplicating flat listings, and said that they complied with rules from industry watchdog, the Estate Agents Authority (EAA).
The company said it had filtered out 9,000 property listings from the more than 15,000 on its website because they either had false information to attract customers or they were duplicates of existing ones because of multiple uploads by different agents.
Ricacorp said the behaviour was widespread in the industry. The company said that its random street survey of 200 Hongkongers showed that over 70 per cent of the respondents reported having seen similar or identical flat listings on more than one online real estate platform.
“Many of the listings are a bait to attract more buyers to the platforms with fake prices that are lower than market average,” said Shih Wing-ching, chairman of Ricacorp. “This prevents customers from knowing the market and wastes their time.”