PropertyGuru Finance Sees Strong Appeal for Competitive Loan Packages Amid Pandemic

PropertyGuru Finance: Strong Appeal for Competitive Loan Packages Amongst Singapore Homebuyers Amid Pandemic

Increased enquiries bolster market awareness for home financing 

Singapore, 28 October 2020 – PropertyGuru Group, (“PropertyGuru” or the “Group”), Asia’s leading property technology company, today revealed a surge of activity in home financing enquiries from Singapore homebuyers as they look to purchase property and take on housing loans amid the current pandemic and economic downturn.

According to mortgage marketplace PropertyGuru Finance’s latest flash data, 60% of all successful applications processed by the business in September are home loan purchases to finance new homes. When looking at the total number of home loan purchases (for both new loans and refinancing), private properties in Singapore accounted for 51% of PropertyGuru Finance’s sales in September, with the remaining 49% comprising of HDB transactions.

Markedly, refinance volumes remained the majority (64%) of PropertyGuru Finance’s total home loan purchases, with the largest number of transactions recorded in June. The economic situation has brought to the fore how homeowners can save on monthly repayments and manage their cash flow when they refinance their home mortgages.

Paul Wee, Managing Director of FinTech, PropertyGuru Group said, “Commercial banks have also lowered their interest rates on loans pegged to the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR), which is a common benchmark used by banks for pricing home loans. The low interest-rate environment has provided Singaporeans with an incentive to purchase new homes.”

Since launching the business in March, PropertyGuru Finance has also recorded tremendous growth in enquiries from homebuyers on various home loan packages. This ongoing growth in home financing enquiries can also be tied to the general surge in property enquiries spurred by pent-up demand following the end of Singapore’s circuit breaker, with a strong YoY enquiry growth of 52% in June. The number of enquiries continued to grow throughout September (+10%) and into early October (+44%).  

These enquiries can range from general questions on how various home loan packages differ from one another, to specific clarifications around digital home financing services such as approval-in-principle (AIP), instant offers, and refinance checks. Findings from PropertyGuru’s H2 2020 Consumer Sentiment Study also revealed that nearly half (48%) of young Singaporeans aged between 22 and 29 are unaware of the term ‘AIP’, an agreement from the bank which guarantees their financial support for a home loan. Further, 1 in 3 (34%) Singaporeans often find themselves overwhelmed by the various bank loans available in market.

While the need for greater financial literacy amongst Singaporeans when making property decisions is evident from the recent enquiries raised, homebuyers are also showing a keenness to learn more about the property market. In order to make smart financing decisions, more Singaporeans are showing eagerness to stay abreast of the latest property and home financing developments, such as the transition to Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA) from SIBOR, as Singapore’s benchmark interest rate in the next three to four years.

To this, Paul Wee said, “Homeowners who are not urgently seeking to refinance might take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the newly launched SORA-pegged home loan packages. SIBOR-pegged home loans are still very much sought after and borrowers’ preference for home loan packages is more dependent on the individual’s financial situation and risk appetite.”

This mortgage snapshot also comes in line with PropertyGuru’s latest “Perfectly Matched, Under One Roof” brand campaign in Singapore to raise awareness for its new offering PropertyGuru Finance, launched earlier this March.

The campaign tagline ‘Home listings. Home loans. Perfectly matched, Under One Roof.’, aims to showcase creative, universal pairings that go well together and are a perfect match to reinforce the message that ‘homes’ and ‘home financing’ are matched offerings that PropertyGuru now offers to consumers. Some of these perfect matches will include local twists to appeal to the mass market, such as Satay and Peanut Sauce, Kaya Toast and Kopi O, and Movies and Popcorn.

To promote the awareness of home financing amongst consumers, PropertyGuru will also be conducting regular home financing webinars via Zoom and its Facebook page starting this Thursday, 29 October 2020, 7:30 – 8:30pm. The webinars will be hosted by Paul Wee, Managing Director of Fintech, PropertyGuru Group, who will cover various topics around home financing, such as the impact on the bank rates with the introduction of SORA. More details about the webinar and registration: https://bit.ly/35B1atM  

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About PropertyGuru Group

PropertyGuru.com.sg was launched in 2007. It revolutionised the Singapore property market by taking it online and making property search transparent for everyone. For the past 13 years, PropertyGuru.com.sg has been helping property seekers in Singapore make confident property decisions. With over 5.5 million monthly visits* and 75%** consumer market share, PropertyGuru is the No.1 destination for Singapore homeseekers.

It is part of PropertyGuru Group, Southeast Asia’s leading property technology company and the preferred destination for 24.5 million property seekers to find their desired home, every month. PropertyGuru Group of companies empower property seekers with the widest option of over 2.7 million homes, in-depth insights and solutions that enable them to make confident property decisions across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Over the decade, the group has grown from a regional property media powerhouse to a high-growth technology company with a robust portfolio of No.1 property portals across its core markets; award-winning mobile apps; best-in-class developer sales enablement platform, FastKey; mortgage marketplace PropertyGuru Finance; and a host of industry-leading property offerings including Awards, events and publications across Asia.

For more information, please visit propertyguru.com.sg; linkedin.com/company/propertyguru

*Source – Google Analytics data, Jan-Jun 2020

**Source –SimilarWeb - Engagement market share, last six month average as at July 2020

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