SINGAPORE (Nov 13): Homegrown real estate agency PropNex reported a 15.2% fall in 3Q19 earnings to $6.1 million from a year ago, which came on the back of lower revenue.

Revenue for the 3Q19 ended Sept came in at $122.5 million, down 1.3% against the same quarter a year ago mainly due to a 9.4% decrease in commission income from agency services to $75.3 million. However, this was offset by 15.9% increase in revenue from project marketing services of $45.3 million.

Commission income from agency services for resale activities in 3Q19 as 3Q18 saw strong en-bloc activities before the cooling measures were implemented. Project marketing services also reported higher income as a significant number of option-to-purchase were completed in 3Q19.

No dividend has been declared for the quarter.

For the 9M19 ended Sept, PropNex reported revenue of $288.8 million and earnings of $11.8 million.

Ismail Gafoor, co-founder and CEO of PropNex, says, “We are happy to see our revenue rebounding to pre-cooling measures levels. The primary private market has recovered strongly, with private new home sales for September being the third consecutive month in 2019 where sales crossed the 1,000-unit mark. This was due to an increased number of new project launches in the first nine months, with buyers and investors remaining responsive to new launches that have come on stream.”

As of Nov 11, PropNex is the largest listed real estate agency in Singapore with 8,483 salespersons, up 14.6% year to date. In Malaysia, it has close to 500 salespersons at present from 60 when it first opened in March 2018.

In its outlook statement, PropNex says sales performance in the third quarter tends to be better largely due to the festivities at the beginning of the year and sales momentum picking up thereafter.

“With the line-up of new launches that are captivating the interest of buyers and investors, the group expects the sales activities to continue for the remainder of the year, with momentum and demand staying resilient,” says PropNex.

For FY19, the group is anticipating about 18,000 transactions in the private resale market.

Year to date, shares in PropNex are up 4 cents to 52 cents on Wednesday.