PropertyGuru, 99.co unfazed by new HDB home listings portal

Singapore’s Housing & Development Board (HDB) unveiled a new home listing service this week, shaking up a property listings market that has, for years, been dominated by platforms like PropertyGuru and 99.co.

Called Resale Flat Listing (RFL) and expected to officially launch sometime later this month, this service lets homeowners list their homes for sale “free of charge for the time being.” To compare, homeowners have to go through a property agent, who pays a fee to put up a listing on PropertyGuru and 99.co.

Photo credit: Housing & Development Board’s website

With nearly 77% of the Singapore population living in the public housing built by the HDB, the new portal could change the way millions of Singaporeans buy and sell homes.

Darius Cheung – CEO of 99 Group, which operates 99.co – tells Tech in Asia he welcomes the move, which creates more “transparency and trust in the market.”

The exec doesn’t expect the new listings portal to impact his business. Finding a property, after all, is a “long journey” in which users spend lots of time online and visit multiple sites to make the best decision.

He adds that 99 Group’s core user group of millennials are savvy property buyers who “need a lot of additional information” – from location, travel time, nearby amenities, to transaction data – as well as price estimation tools, which the company’s platform provides.

The 99.co team / Photo credit: 99.co

“We don’t think about competition much and focus on the customer, so we see more opportunity to work with the government, who shares our same goals,” he says.

Similarly, PropertyGuru said it “welcomed the initiative” by HDB and that it looks forward to “partnering with HDB,” though it didn’t share details of what such a partnership might entail.

Game changer?

Why might HDB’s RFL service be a game changer? For starters, a portal operated by the public housing authority itself inspires trust, particularly in a space where scams and fake listings on third-party platforms remain rampant.

Listings on RFL will be “verified and non-duplicative,” according to HDB.

That’s because both flat buyers will need to produce a valid letter demonstrating their eligibility to purchase a flat before they can obtain a seller’s contact details and schedule viewing appointments through the portal. Sellers, meanwhile, will need to register their intent to sell with HDB in order to list on the platform.

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