Chestertons is setting up an agency services arm, primarily tasked to assist developers in marketing local project launches which include residential, commercial and industrial properties. The initial team will comprise some 100 professionally active and experienced associate agents, mainly from DTZ, Huttons and CBRE. Each of these agents is said to have at least 10 years of real estate marketing experience.

Industry veteran Jackson Poh will lead the team, bringing more than 20 years of experience to his new post. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Poh had spent more than 10 years in DTZ where his team consistently ranked among the top five resale divisions.

Chestertons said it is positioning itself for market recovery as there is plenty of liquidity waiting on the sidelines. Donald Han, Managing Director of Chestertons, expects the Government to tweak the existing cooling measures sometime next year.

“The market has softened by some 10% since the peak in mid-2013 prior to the enforcement of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio. On average, most home purchases bought from 2012 to 2015 were under a loan to value ratio (LTV) of 80%. We think that once the overall market price drops by 15%, the Government may roll back some measures as the market could be in danger of being in ‘negative equity’ territory. We are giving a mid-2016 timeframe for that,” explained Mr. Han.

The staff strength for Chestertons’ agency arm is expected to hit 300 by end-2015. “We’re not gunning for quantity but more on quality,” said Mr. Han.

Chesterton Singapore Pte Ltd was set up in 2013 by Donald Han, Chee Hok Yean and Elaine Chow, collectively owning 30% of the company. The remaining 70% is held by Chesterton Global Limited, which is based in UK. Chestertons’ core business includes hotels, business solutions, capital markets, international project marketing, research , valuation and advisory and agency services.