PropertyGuru CEO Highlights Double-Digit Growth Post-Privatisation

Recently appointed PropertyGuru CEO Lewis Ng has pointed to double-digit revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth over the past year as evidence of the company’s sharp strategic pivot since being taken private by EQT at the end of 2024.

Speaking in his first media interview since taking the top job in March, Ng told The Business Times that PropertyGuru has grown significantly between June 2024 and June 2025, having cut back on non-core activities and reducing headcount. The company’s last publicly reported adjusted EBITDA was S$6.8 million in Q2 2024.

“We made decisions to exit parts of our business that were a bit further away from our core business, which actually was quite costly,” Ng said. “And as a result, we restructured and removed some of those costs, [which] drove a significant impact to our profitability.”

In February, PropertyGuru shed operations such as local home services platform Sendhelper and its mortgage brokerage, PropertyGuru Finance. The move followed the company’s US$1.1 billion acquisition by EQT Private Capital Asia and its delisting from the NYSE, and led to 174 job losses.

With a leaner structure, the company is doubling down on innovation in its core categories. That includes investing in artificial intelligence tools for agents and improving user experiences in its key markets, particularly Malaysia, where Ng says there’s untapped value in operating both PropertyGuru.com.my and iProperty.com.my.

“There’s a great opportunity for us to help deliver more value to our customers on both platforms, and we’ve historically not done a lot with that,” Ng said, adding that backend integration is underway to improve customer access.

While Malaysia shows strong listing activity, Vietnam continues to demonstrate resilient homebuyer interest despite external economic pressures, including recent US-imposed tariffs. “They still don’t affect the desire of people to own property,” Ng said.

Before being taken private, PropertyGuru had curtailed its underperforming operations significantly, pulling out of Indonesia and shuttering its developer sales platform, FastKey, in 2023.

Asked about life under private equity ownership, Ng said: “PE firms are effectively looking for great companies with excellent potential and looking at creating value, so that there’s a return for them and their investors. That’s the bottom line.”

Looking ahead, Ng said the focus remains on delivering value to the company’s two core customer segments: property professionals and consumers. He cautioned that inflation and interest rate risks still loom, particularly in Singapore.