THE recession seems like no more than a distant memory, and 2009 is turning out to be a great year for property agents.

The commissions they earned were nothing short of spectacular in the third quarter, some real estate companies told The New Paper.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said his agents brought in some $54 million worth of commissions - the company's best quarterly performance since it started 10 years ago.

This translates to about $1.8 billion worth of properties sold in three months.

He said: 'The property market did very well and there was a pent-up demand for homes. A lot of consumers who were sitting on the fence came into the market. And interest rates, which were low, also spurred demand. 'People felt the economy was recovering, and bricks-and-mortar was seen as a safe bet.'

The last high was during the third quarter of 2007, when his agents brought in $45 million in commissions. He said almost every active agent in his company earned more this year than last year, and some even doubled their commissions.

During a slow year, he estimated, an agent could make about $7,000 per month, and this could go up to $20,000 a month in a good year.

HSR Property Group CEO Patrick Liew said the company saw a 25 per cent increase in commissions from the previous quarter.

Pent-up demand He said: 'The last quarter was good for the industry. What caught most of us by surprise was how fast the upturn was. There was a lot of pent-up demand and the sentiment was very positive.

'There was an increase in transactions across the board, from primary to secondary sales.'

He also noticed more people joining the industry to be agents. He said an average of 250 people joined his firm every month in the past three months, compared with 100 to 150 earlier.

These new entrants include those who used to be lawyers, accountants and financial controllers. There was even a managing director of an electronics company.

Some of them had been retrenched from their previous jobs, said Mr Liew.

He added: 'The property market was at a downturn but now people are bracing for an upturn.

'Some of these professionals may have been retrenched or they don't feel that their current job has any security. Others want something with an unlimited upside.'

ECG's Mr Eric Cheng said that on average, the company's agents earned about 15 per cent more than in the previous quarter.

He said: 'The transaction volume was higher and logically, the agents' commissions also increased. It was better than the previous high in 2007.'

Mr Paul Heng, founder of NeXT Career Consulting Group, said it's not surprising that job-seekers will take advantage of the real estate boom to join the industry.

He said: 'The property market has indeed improved and for those who are jobless or looking to switch jobs, it's only natural that they'll join this industry. The barriers to entry are quite low and it's easy for them to join a big company and get trained there.

'Similarly, if the insurance or financial services industries picks up, more people will switch careers too.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.