Fixed fee vs 2%: does a fixed-fee agent try less hard?
Guides › Count the cost
Step 2 · Count the costJames Yeo, CEA R051864Z · Updated 18 September 2026 · 6 min read
Quick answer
The worry is fair, so here is the answer with numbers. A 2% agent earns about $200 more for every extra $10,000 they get you, so the percentage does not buy you a harder negotiator; it buys you an agent whose income depends on closing, same as mine. What a fixed fee changes is the pricing conversation at the start, and how much of your proceeds you keep at the end.
Across my 77 HDB sales, 3 in 10 sold within 30 days and 58% within 3 months. Four in ten took longer, and every one is listed on my sell page with the block and the price, so you can check rather than trust.
Since I moved to a fixed $1,999 (plus GST) fee, the one question every seller wants to ask and only some do is this: if you are paid the same whether my flat sells for $600,000 or $640,000, why would you push for $640,000? It is a good question. Let me answer it properly, because the honest answer is more useful than a reassuring one.
Does a 2% agent really try harder for a higher price?
Do the arithmetic on a $600,000 flat. At 2%, the agent earns $12,000. If they negotiate $10,000 more for you, they earn $12,200. That extra $200 is what the percentage model pays the agent for the hardest part of the job, holding the price when a buyer pushes back. Meanwhile, accepting the lower offer today instead of waiting three more weeks gets the agent their $12,000 sooner and frees them for the next listing.
So the incentive a percentage creates is not "get the highest price". It is "close, and close soon". That is the same incentive a fixed fee creates. On the question of effort, the two models are closer than the sales pitch suggests. Where they differ is somewhere else.
Where the fee model actually changes behaviour
- The pricing at the start. A percentage agent competing for your listing has a reason to tell you a high number, win the listing, then "adjust" the price after four quiet weeks. I have no listing to win by flattering you; I show you the last twelve months of transactions in your block and we price to sell. A flat priced right in week one sells faster and, in my experience, for more than a flat that sat overpriced and then chased the market down.
- What you keep. On the median 4-room flat in Q2 2026 ($679,570), 2% plus GST is $14,815. My fee is $2,179 all in. That $12,636 is not theoretical; it lands in your CPF and cash at completion. The commission guide has the full table.
- The buyer's agent. Since July 2024 the buyer's agent should be paid by the buyer, not out of your commission. With a fixed fee there is nothing on your side to share, so that conversation never starts.
What do the results look like?
Talk is cheap, so here is the time-to-sell across every HDB flat I have sold, read straight from the list on my sell page (listing date to Option to Purchase, 77 flats across 22 towns):
Counted from the 77 HDB rows on /sell on 18 September 2026. Twelve of the 23 fast sales closed inside two weeks. 3-room flats sold fastest (median under a month); 5-room flats took longest (median about 3½ months).
Two things I want you to notice. First, more than half sold within three months, and nearly a third within a month, which is not the record of an agent who lists and forgets. Second, 42% took three months or longer, and I am showing you that number rather than hiding it, because the flats that took longest were mostly larger flats in towns with a lot of similar supply, and no fee model changes what the market is doing in Punggol or Sengkang this quarter. If an agent tells you every flat sells in six weeks, ask for the list.
Where a fixed fee is not automatically better
I would rather you hear this from me. A low fee does not help you if the agent is stretched across thirty listings and yours gets a portal post and nothing else. Ask any fixed-fee agent, including me, how many active listings they carry and who does the viewings. A low fee also does not help if the agent cannot price. Two percent of a flat that sold $20,000 below what it should have is still a bad deal, and so is $1,999 for the same result. Judge the agent on the last five sales, not on the fee.
And be clear what you are buying. I do not ask you to sign an exclusive agreement, but I do not work open listings either, where four agents push the same flat and nobody owns the outcome. If you decide my model works for you, you work with me and I do the whole job. That is the trade.
How to test any agent, at any fee
- Ask for the last five HDB sales with listing date, sold date and the price against the valuation. A real track record is ready in a minute. A vague one is an answer too.
- Ask the $10,000 question. "If a buyer offers $10,000 under my asking, what do you do?" You want to hear a plan, not "we can consider".
- Ask what happens after four weeks with no offer. The answer tells you whether the price was honest to begin with.
- Ask for the fee in writing on the CEA Estate Agency Agreement, GST stated, before any viewing. This applies to me too.
What I would do if I were choosing an agent
1. Run the numbers on the sale proceeds calculator at 2.18% and at a fixed fee, so you know what the percentage costs you in cash.
2. Interview two agents, one on each model, and ask all four questions above. Ignore the pitch; compare the answers.
3. Pick the one whose pricing logic you can follow. Price is where the money is won or lost; the fee is second.
Frequently asked questions
Does a fixed-fee agent do less marketing?
Not in my case: photography, video, portal listings and a home tour on my TikTok and YouTube channels are included. Ask any agent to list what is included in writing; the fee model does not tell you.
Will buyers' agents avoid a fixed-fee listing?
Since July 2024 a buyer's agent is paid by the buyer, so your fee model is irrelevant to them. Before that, some would ask the seller's agent for a share; with a fixed fee there is nothing to share, which is a feature.
Is $1,999 the full cost?
$1,999 plus 9% GST, $2,179 all in, payable on completion. HDB's own resale fees apply on any sale, agent or not.
What if my flat is hard to sell?
Then the fee matters less than the pricing and the marketing, and you should ask harder questions of every agent. The 42% of my sales that took three months or more are on the list; look at what they were.
Why do most agents still charge 2%?
Because most sellers still pay it. There is no rule requiring it; CEA sets no rate. The commission guide explains where the 2% habit comes from.
Licensed real estate salesperson, CEA R051864Z. 90 homes sold across 22 towns, 77 of them HDB. Author of the C.H.O.I.C.E. framework and the book Sell & Buy Properties Start with C.H.O.I.C.E. I sell for a fixed $1,999 plus GST instead of 2%.
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