PropertyGuru rebounds with double-digit growth after US delisting

Lewis Ng, who took over as CEO of PropertyGuru in March, has had a busy four months. But he is back on familiar ground, having first spent nearly six years as chief business officer of the online real estate portal.

In his first media interview since assuming his new role, Ng tells The Business Times that PropertyGuru’s revenue and adjusted EBITDA saw double-digit growth between June 2024 and June 2025. The company’s last announced adjusted EBITDA was S$6.8 million (US$5.3) for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.

Lewis Ng took over as chief executive officer of PropertyGuru in March / Photo credit: PropertyGuru

Ng says the company decided to exit some non-core business areas, helping cut expenses. The exits included those of Sendhelper and PropertyGuru Finance, which were announced in February 2025.

The move, along with the phasing out of functions that PropertyGuru no longer needs since its privatization, led to 174 job cuts. The layoffs happened two months after the company was delisted, following its US$1.1 billion acquisition by EQT Private Capital Asia, a unit of the Swedish private equity (PE) manager.

EQT’s offer was US$6.70 a share, which was a 7% premium to the last close the day before the announcement. However, that offer was below PropertyGuru’s listing price of US$8.33 on March 18, 2022.

A positive growth trajectory in Malaysia and resilient property demand in Vietnam are also powering the Southeast Asian proptech firm’s top and bottom lines.

No publicly available financial reports

Since being acquired by EQT, PropertyGuru has not needed to make its financial reports publicly available. The company last filed its annual report on December 31, 2023, as per the website of Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

In its last earnings report filed on September 4, 2024, PropertyGuru disclosed that its net loss had widened to US$12.4 million in the second quarter from US$5 million in Q2 2023. Ng declined to comment on whether the company has since turned profitable, however.

PropertyGuru uses adjusted EBITDA as its key bottom-line metric as it reflects the business’ underlying performance more accurately.

Adjusted EBITDA was a 47.8% jump from the corresponding quarter in 2023. Revenue rose by 10.3% to US$31.4 million, driven mainly by higher contributions from its marketplaces segment, which was buoyed by improving conditions in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore, according to PropertyGuru.

Given the positive impact of shedding non-core businesses on the company’s bottom line, Ng says it has been “very judicious and deliberate” with its investments and areas of focus.

Instead of re-entering related businesses like mortgages, PropertyGuru is now focusing its resources on developing AI features. These include providing AI support to property agents to help improve how they present their listings.

No stress

As for whether working for an owner that’s a PE firm is giving him extra stress, Ng appears to view it as a badge of honor.