PropertyGuru Increases Prices and Adds 'Green Score' to Listings in Singapore

Southeast Asian portal group PropertyGuru has this morning announced to agents that the prices of its premium listings packages in its home market of Singapore are to increase.

In a letter to agents which was published on the portal's website with the ominous title 'An Update for PropertyGuru's Agent Community', PropertyGuru's Singapore country Manager Dr Tan Tee Khoon announced that prices for its basic listings package would remain the same while those for its Advance, Premier and Business packages would increase by "a weighted average price adjustment of 15%".

Justifying the price increase, the company pointed to the fact that it has kept prices stable since 2019 despite the difficult market conditions and cited a half-yearly traffic increase of 13% for H1 2021 and a lead volume increase of 29%. PropertyGuru also claims that the cost per lead has been driven down by 32% to S$2.08 in 2021 from S$2.74 in 2020.

The change comes at a time when Covid-19 cases are on the rise in Singapore and due to the "heightened alert" restrictions in the country, groups of more than 5 people are forbidden. Despite the pandemic related difficulties though, there was a 4.3% quarter-on-quarter increase in private housing transactions for private residential transactions in Q2 2021 according to local Real Estate Consultancy Edmund Tie.

For a comprehensive list of PropertyGuru prices, see the company's blog update here. All new prices will be effective from the 1st of October.

'Green Score' to rate eco-friendliness of PropertyGuru listings

PropertyGuru has also announced more news around its flagship Singapore portal where it has debuted its 'Green Score' for condominium and HDB (public housing) listings in the Lion City.

Listings at the project and development level on the portal will now display a rating out of five which takes into account data around distance to public transport, green building rating assessment, and sustainability awards obtained from Property Guru Asia Property Awards. Since its soft launch in February, the Green Score has been seen some 2 million property seekers.

Speaking about the Green Score, Hari V. Krishnan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of PropertyGuru Group, said:

“As the region’s proptech leader, we felt it was our responsibility to enable and drive this change in sustainable urban living. Since last year, we have ramped up our programs, tech capabilities, talent, and partnerships to promote sustainable urban living and influence positive changes in our community. Green Score practically enables Singaporeans to prioritise ‘sustainability’ as a consideration in their property decisions. Since its soft launch in February 2021, nearly 2 million property seekers have viewed the Green Score."

The Green Score has been developed in partnership with data firm Reomnify, whose CEO Alex Storey we interviewed on the subject of bringing more data to property listings as part of our 'Changing World of Property Data' series back in February.