Mr Steve Melhuish: Our core business is improving the real estate market - helping buyers make better property decisions, faster.

Like many entrepreneurs, Mr Steve Melhuish had a personal need, and because there was nothing in the market that could satisfactorily meet those needs, he decided to do it himself, and founded Allproperty Media with his partner Jani.

“In 2006, the condo I was renting went en-bloc so I had to look for a new home at the height of the property boom,” said Mr Melhuish, Allproperty Media’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “It was very tough trying to find an alternative - many hours of searching through newspaper classifieds, calling agents, going on mass viewings, and so on. So I decided there had to be a better way."

He put together a business plan and was introduced to Mr Jani Rautiainen, the company’s Co-founder, who was also working on a similar project. Initially self-funded, then venture capital-backed, Allproperty Media went on to develop a comprehensive website that makes it easier for property buyers and sellers to access information and services over the Internet. Within two years, the business was profitable.

“Our core business is improving the real estate market - helping buyers make better property decisions, faster; and increasing productivity and lowering costs for the property industry,” explained Mr Melhuish.

In the process, the company - through its flagship website PropertyGuru.com - played a key role in transforming the property marketing industry in Singapore. “Three years ago, about 90 per cent of Singapore’s real estate relied exclusively on traditional newspaper and flyers for promoting their properties,” said Mr Melhuish.

“Since launching in 2007, PropertyGuru has helped transform this industry and now an estimated two-thirds of all real estate agents use some form of digital marketing - property portal, personal websites, Facebook, YouTube, and the like. At the same time the number of consumers using online to research and buy property has grown from an estimated 30,000 per month to over 600,000 per month.”

His claims are backed up by independent Internet trackers like Hitwise and Alexa which ranks PropertyGuru as the leading property site in Singapore, and the 31st  largest website in Singapore.

“The website is used by 1.6 million visitors, reading 25 million page views and generating 125,000 sales leads for property advertisers – every month,” said Mr Melhuish.

According to Allproperty Media, PropertyGuru’s success and differentiation stems from heavy innovation and continuous research and development.

“We were the first to launch an agent mobile listing service, first to have an online property auctions platform, implement Google StreetView and a comprehensive mortgage comparison engine, LoanGuru.com.sg . This month we launched a property search iPhone application (‘show me properties for sale and rent nearby here’) and the first property listings Facebook integration service in Asia,” said Mr Melhuish. “We also focus heavily on ensuring the website is highly usable and that the content is up to date and relevant – this includes photos, videos and our editorial team ensures we deliver property e-news alert to over 20,000 subscribers daily.”

Allproperty plans to build on its successes in Singapore by launching related services that complement its brand and leverage its existing real-estate relationships and expertise. For example, the company recently launched LoanGuru which provides comprehensive information and comparisons about available mortgage plans. It also plans to expand internationally within 12 months, said Mr Melhuish.