Benchmarking property management agents’ performance in Hong Kong

Management of multi-owned housing (MOH) is often complicated so it is very common that third-party property management agents (PMAs) are engaged in the management process. However, not all the PMAs perform well. This article aims to develop a protocol for evaluating and comparing the performance of PMAs in managing MOH developments in Hong Kong. Based on the literature reviewed, a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was developed for the evaluation of PMA performance. The model used a number of input-based and output-based indicators to generate the performance indices for different PMAs. Data were collected through building assessment and structured questionnaire surveys in 37 MOH developments in Hong Kong. The article demonstrates that the DEA-based benchmarking approach can have applications which are beneficial to all stakeholders in the field of property management. Moreover, the research findings imply that staff training or development played an important role in determining the performance of PMA. Even when a PMA was good at building capacity for property management, its service delivery might be not satisfactory if its staff were not well-trained. The study is the first attempt to empirically evaluate and benchmark the performance of PMAs in Hong Kong using the DEA technique.