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PropertyGuru (PGRU US - US$577 million) is a Singapore-based operator of real estate listing websites. Think of it as the Zillow of Southeast Asia.
Its websites and apps match property owners with potential buyers or renters. 37 million users visit PropertyGuru’s platforms yearly, where they can access 2.9 million property listings.
PropertyGuru dominates the real estate portal industry across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. PropertyGuru Singapore contributes half of the revenues and remains the group's crown jewel.
I’m generally wary of software companies, but PropertyGuru enjoys an incredible brand in its home markets. It’s the website most consumers visit when they’re looking for a new home, which forces real estate agents to put their listings on the website to make sure they reach as many eyeballs as possible.
I spoke to a Singapore-based real estate agent yesterday and asked her why she continued to use PropertyGuru to list her properties. She said that 99% of potential buyers or renters come from PropertyGuru, so she has no choice but to pay up. There are no real alternatives.
PropertyGuru makes money by selling subscriptions to real estate agents and asking them to pay extra to have their listings show up at the top of the search results. Other features help agents find buyers and tenants quicker or at better prices.
The company tried to list in Australia in 2019 at 14x EV/Sales but failed due to weak demand. Instead, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2022 via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), which raised cash through an IPO and then merged with PropertyGuru.
The only problem is that no one covers the company, and American micro-cap investors probably don’t understand the strength of PropertyGuru’s platforms. After raising capital at a US$1.8 billion valuation, the market cap has now dropped to US$577 million, with an enterprise value of just US$349 million.
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