PropertyGuru Beats 105 Countries To Pick Up “CNBC World’s Best Property Portal” Award

CNBC World's Best Property Portal Award 2009

Singapore 20th November 2009 - Becoming a world-beating company in the highly competitive property industry is no mean feat. www.PropertyGuru.com.sg has done exactly that by beating entrants from 105 countries to land the highly coveted award of “World’s Best Property Portal” at this year’s International Property Awards in association with CNBC Arabiya held in California on Thursday 12th November.

www.PropertyGuru.com.sg picked up the award at a prestigious gala dinner held at the US Grant Hotel in San Diego. Only the top scoring winners from each of the 6 regions (UK, Europe, Africa, Americas, Arabia and Asia Pacific) were nominated to attend.

This win comes on the back of PropertyGuru’s “Best Property Portal Singapore” and “Best Property Portal Asia Pacific” awards by CNBC Asia Pacific Property Awards in July 2009. Furthermore, securing the coveted “CNBC World’s Best Property Portal” title is proof that Singapore can compete and triumph against the world’s best real estate and digital media firms.

President of the International Property Awards Stuart Shield says, “The challenges for companies entering this year were tougher than ever. These awards not only draw the most dynamic companies to participate, they also help identify those in the strongest position to lead the recovery in this important business sector.”

“We are delighted and proud to have been selected as the World’s best property portal! This is great recognition for all the hard work invested over the last 3 years in building the business and the fantastic support from our users and clients” said Steve Melhuish, Co-founder & Director of www.PropertyGuru.com.sg

The “World’s Best” event is part of the International Property Awards, a prestigious annual occasion dedicated to recognizing the best real estate firms across the globe. Hundreds of property-related firms from over 105 countries in Asia, Europe and Americas were evaluated by a senior panel of real estate and Internet experts chaired by Eric Pickles, chairman of the UK's Conservative Party.

Entrants are initially judged at country or regional level. All in all, there are 36 different categories and up to two of the most outstanding entries in each category are given a four-star award, while the best overall entry is given a five-star award. Every five-star winner’s entry is then re-examined to determine which companies go forward to be re-judged for the ultimate World’s Best Award. This symbol of worldwide excellence is already recognised and appreciated by the public who are becoming increasingly well informed and discerning about the properties they buy.

Entries were judged by a panel of 52 independent professionals whose collective knowledge of the property industry is unsurpassed by any other property awards. This year's judges included Ben Wood, industry head property markets of Google UK; Peter Bolton King, group chief executive of the National Federation of Property Professionals; Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of the National House Building Council; Christopher Hall, president elect of FIABCI; Wilhelm Harnish, Master Builders of Australia (MBA); Thijis Stoffer, International Consortium of Real Estate Agents Association (ICREA); Helen Shield, editor-in-chief of International Homes magazine and Gillian Farr, head of design of Laura Ashley Home.

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About PropertyGuru:

www.PropertyGuru.com.sg is Singapore’s leading property and home site and the brainchild of PropertyGuru International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., a local firm established in 2006. The site recently won the CNBC “Worlds Best Property Award” as well as the CNBC Asia Pacific Property Awards for “Best Property Portal Asia Pacific” in 2009 and “Best Property Portal Singapore” in 2008 and 2009.

www.PropertyGuru.com.sg provides real time access to multi-media rich content covering property and home-related products, services, news, advice, guides, tools and largest online property database in Singapore. It works closely with prominent real estate developers in Singapore and overseas, over 8,500 housing agents, and home-related firms.

The site is used by 1.2 million consumers who view 16 million pages and generate over 100,000 leads for advertisers every month (sources: Alexa.com, Hitwise and Google Insights). PropertyGuru's user base has consistently grown by 15% per month since its launch. These users are ‘mass affluent’ and comprise 53% earning over $100k, 13% over $250k pa; 35% expatriates; 85% live in Singapore, 15% overseas (foreigners and Singapore expats); 32% own 2 or more properties (source: survey conducted by Aktiv Digital with 800 respondents).

www.PropertyGuru.com.sg is committed to innovation and regularly launches new services, features and content to improve usability and customer service. Today, consumers do not just get access to the largest online property database but also receive automatic property alerts, monthly newsletters, free expert mortgage advice, real estate market news, home and lifestyle feature articles, pricing trends, home and personal finance products, new property launch updates, property videos, virtual tours, condo directories, HDB guides and online consumer property question and answer services.

To support its growth, PropertyGuru invests heavily in marketing. This includes outdoor campaigns (buses, taxis, MRT stations and flyer campaigns), print advertising and PR (Financial Times, The Edge, Today, Straits Times & The Sunday Times, Marketing Magazine, Media and Expat Living) as well as on the radio (93.8 Live) and online. It also has exclusive partnership with eBay, powering the property section of these websites and widening the reach for PropertyGuru’s advertisers. PropertyGuru is also a founding member of Singapore’s Internet Advertising Bureau.

Recent advertisers include Lloyds TSB, ICI-Dulux, Simmons, HSBC, IKEA, Standard Chartered, OCBC, GE Money, Professional Investment Advisory Services, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Far East Organization, Lian Beng Group, Mulpha, CBRE, Drew & Napier and Knight Frank.

For more information, please visit www.PropertyGuru.com.sg

About CNBC International Property Awards:

The annual International Property Awards recognizes the industry’s best residential and commercial property professionals from around the globe. Now in its 15th year, the awards have seen steady growth with entries from across the globe. The awards are now established as the biggest in the world and an International Property Award is a world-renowned mark of excellence.

The awards are split into regions covering the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe & Africa, Arabia and UK. Participants enter at their relevant national level and are judged by a highly experienced team of professionals who cover the whole range of property disciplines. Companies selected as winners are then invited to attend a glittering awards dinner for each region and have the right to use the prestigious logo in their marketing. The highest-scoring winners from each region are automatically entered into the overall International Awards, which ultimately determine the world's finest property companies.

For more information, please visit www.propertyawards.net