Singapore property agents may be losing potential buyers before conversations even begin, according to a new field test by Singapore-based proptech startup Rivo AI, which found significant gaps in how property enquiries are handled.

The study, conducted among 394 property agents, found that those who replied personally took an average of two hours and 14 minutes to respond, with nearly one in three taking over an hour. About one in five daytime enquiries went unanswered, based on an average across local and overseas numbers, while only half of the agents contacted through overseas numbers replied personally at all.

Slow Replies Risk Losing Buyers Before the Conversation Starts

The findings point to a gap between how quickly prospective buyers expect a response and how property enquiries are actually handled on the ground. For overseas enquirers in particular, waiting on a reply that may never come raises real questions about missed opportunities for agents and a frustrating experience for home seekers in Singapore.

Rivo AI’s data suggests the bottleneck is less about agents being unwilling to respond and more about availability: agents occupied with viewings or other clients simply cannot always respond to every enquiry the moment it comes in, particularly outside office hours or across time zones.

WhatsApp Assistants Respond in Under Five Seconds

To address the gap, Rivo AI has introduced two WhatsApp-based assistants that respond to enquiries in under five seconds, qualify prospective buyers and schedule viewings automatically. The service is designed to help agents capture leads even when they are personally unavailable, rather than replacing the agent relationship once a lead is qualified.

For a market where speed of response can determine whether a listing gets a second look, the study adds concrete numbers to a problem many Singapore property agents and agencies have long suspected but rarely measured directly.