This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Singapore 100 2025 and Brand Finance ASEAN 500 2025 report
PropertyGuru, Southeast Asia’s leading PropTech platform, has become the trusted partner for millions navigating life’s biggest property decisions. Over its 17-year journey, the brand has evolved from a property marketplace into a comprehensive ecosystem, delivering reliable insights, verified listings, and innovative tools that empower home seekers, agents, and developers alike. With its deep roots in Singapore and a growing regional influence, PropertyGuru continues to shape how people find, finance, and manage their homes.
In this spotlight interview, we speak with Sivaram Parameswaran, Consumer Marketing Director of PropertyGuru Singapore, who shares how the company is redefining trust and transparency in the real estate market, leveraging social-first storytelling, data-driven innovation, and community engagement to create not just transactions, but truly human experiences of home.
Interview with Sivaram Parameswaran
Consumer Marketing Director
PropertyGuru Singapore
As a leading platform in Southeast Asia supporting millions in their property decisions, how does PropertyGuru continue to build its brand and differentiate itself in the competitive PropTech market?
PropertyGuru is the preferred choice for home seekers across Singapore, and over the past 17 years, we've significantly enhanced our marketplace to better serve
both consumers and agents. We have long been synonymous with homeownership, offering deep insights into consumer sentiments and their emotional journeys.
As market leader, a lot of it directly stems from our obsession with our consumers in Singapore.
We prioritise our audience’s needs and desires above all else, understanding them through our evergreen flywheel of feedback. Recognising their intelligence and agility, we’ve implemented a renewed, consumer-driven social first marketing strategy to authentically share our stories. This shift reflects our understanding that social media reigns supreme as the most effective marketing channel in 2024. It commands consumer attention and delivers unparalleled ROI for brand building through expansive reach and meaningful engagement – it’s where brand narratives are forged today.
PropertyGuru's 2024 National Day Parade campaign marked a pivotal first step in our brand evolution, rooted in our Singaporean heritage. Our inaugural partnership
with the Ministry of Defence brought the 'house to home' concept to life. This integrated campaign, our first of its kind, engaged audiences through unique product scent experiences and community outreach with SASCO seniors.
In the rapidly evolving PropTech landscape, what strategies is PropertyGuru adopting to drive innovation and continue delivering meaningful value to its users?
We aim to revolutionise homeowner experience through reliable data resources. Our platform delivers clear, actionable insights into their property, facilitating informed decision-making. With a handy toolkit to manage everything related to their property all in one place, we keep users abreast of critical changes from fluctuating property values to new neighbourhood developments through
personalised alerts.
To enhance consumer trust and safety, we launched ‘Verified Listings’. This feature confirms that an agent has an exclusive agreement with the property owner and rigorously verifies the listed address against the actual property location.
By ensuring the legitimacy of listings, we cultivate a secure and transparent environment, fostering a superior user experience and driving sustained engagement. Satisfied property seekers are the cornerstone of a thriving marketplace, creating substantial value for both agents and developers.
Recognising the critical role of our agent partners, we prioritise continuous innovation based on their feedback. This collaborative approach allows us to refine our tools, offer flexible pricing options, and introduce features like Verified Leads and Prospector
by DataSense. These innovations empower agents to generate qualified leads, efficiently identifying high-potential properties. This commitment is evidenced by the generation of nearly 30,000 daily leads, resulting in consumer engagement rates exceeding five
times those of other platforms. This tangible value proposition is reflected in our impressive nearly 80% agent renewal rate in Q1 2024.
Southeast Asia's real estate markets are constantly evolving, presenting both opportunities and challenges for property seekers and industry professionals. How does PropertyGuru empower these stakeholders to navigate this dynamic landscape and make informed decisions?
PropertyGuru is a key player in Singapore’s dynamic real estate market, empowering both property seekers and industry professionals through comprehensive, up-to-date market intelligence, advanced data analytics and proprietary tools. Consumers benefit from detailed listings, insightful market reports, and trend analysis, enabling informed purchasing and renting decisions.
For our agent partners, PropertyGuru offers a suite of solutions to enhance marketing and sales. We connect them with a large pool of qualified leads, streamline operations, and provide access to valuable market insights and advertising platforms, ensuring they remain competitive.
Our latest feature, the ‘Everyone is Welcome’ tag on rental listings in Singapore is a testament to our fundamental belief that product experiences are human experiences. This feature is a result of feedback from renting consumers and reflects our commitment to create an equitable housing market for all, regardless of race or any other preferences.
With recent campaigns like 'A Sense of Home' and 'Scents of Singapore', PropertyGuru appears to be exploring a stronger focus on emotional and community engagement. How does this align with your overall vision, and what are your plans to further strengthen these connections?
At PropertyGuru, our vision is to power communities to live, work and thrive in tomorrow’s cities. As a homegrown brand, our goal is to foster a sense of belonging and pride within the community, celebrating what it means to be rooted in Singapore.
Campaigns like 'A Sense of Home' and ‘Scents of Singapore’ focus on building deeper, personalised connections. We're moving beyond mere transactional assistance in finding housing, aiming to evoke the emotional and cultural essence of 'home' – a concept that deeply resonates with individuals. By collaborating directly with everyday Singaporeans, 'Scents of Singapore’ curated a unique perfume collection that authentically captures the diverse scents of their neighbourhood. This initiative illustrates the transformative role of social media in modern brand engagement, offering a stark contrast to traditional above-the-line media.
More than structures, homes are the heart of life – repositories of cherished memories, deep connections, and a fundamental sense of self. By sharing authentic, emotionally resonant stories that center the human experience, we forge genuine connections, fostering a brand built on trust and community.
Last November, Home Run: Singapore premiered, offering a unique and insightful look into Singapore's competitive property market. This four-episode reality series follows the journeys of Claire Tan, Shawn Wong, and Nadiyah Kamsani as they navigate major career challenges. Beyond the surface of real estate, the series delves into the personal narratives that shape each deal, providing a nuanced understanding of the market.
We’ll continue to personalise our services to meet Singapore’s evolving needs, using local insights and date. We aim to remain a trusted partner in home-buying, fostering a more connected, resilient Singapore.