Lamudi acquires MyProperty in the Philippines in a bid to become leading property portal

L-R: Butz de Castro, general manager, Myproperty.ph; Jacqueline Van Den Ende, managing director, Lamudi Philippines; and Henry Winter, transition manager, Lamudi Global

Rocket Internet-backed global property portal Lamudi announced today that it acquired MyProperty in the Philippines for an undisclosed sum, possibly signaling a consolidation in the market. This will increase the size of Lamudi’s marketplace in the Philippines, one of the focus countries the company identified for its expansion.

MyProperty has 200,000 property listings in the Philippines, against Lamudi’s 90,000. Acquiring the company is key for Lamudi to compete with other big players like Property24 and homegrown Zipmatch.

The deal results in knowledge sharing between the two firms and improvement in service for consumers hunting for houses to buy or rent online. It brings “added value in terms of an increase in the number of quality listings by merging controlled content,” explains Kian Moini, Lamudi Group’s co-founder and managing director.

But Lamudi says the brands will keep their individual sites.

Market consolidation

Moini says the deal consolidates the crowded market. The Philippine real estate sector has seen a boom over the past years, as well as a rise in the number of online property portals that use similar business models.

See: 4 property marketplaces to watch out for in the Philippines

Lamudi’s managing director in the Philippines Jacqueline Van Den Ende tells Tech in Asia that the industry is at a turning point. “There are a lot of players in the Philippines, [and the] bulk of them are still very small. The merging of Lamudi and MyProperty is one of the first steps in terms of consolidation and increasing professionalization in the market. We’re transforming from a very fragmented, unprofessional market to a concentrated and professional one.”

Lamudi’s global network covers 32 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, with over 900,000 listings in total.

Lamudi, which raised EUR 16 million (US$18 million) in February, is growing its operations in Asia and Latin America in a single bid to become the largest real estate platform in emerging markets.

In Asia, Lamudi claims it is a market leader in two countries – Myanmar and Bangladesh, while the Philippines is a key market for the company. The deal with MyProperty helps its goal to become a leader in the Philippines too, Moini says.