PropTiger, Housing merge to make online realty giant

Deal to draw curtains on Housing, who fought with investors & employees, before being sacked in 2015

PropTiger and Housing.com — two rivals in the housing sector — on Tuesday announced a merger to create what they claim is the largest online real estate services company in the country. It would be valued at $250 million (Rs 1,700 crore), said a source.

NewsCorp-backed digital property advertising firm, REA Group, has invested $50 million (Rs 340 crore) in the new entity. A SoftBank associate firm will also invest $5 million (Rs 34 crore). NewsCorp is the largest shareholder of PropTiger; SoftBank backs Housing.com. 

Representatives of SoftBank and REA would join the board of the new entity, to be chaired by a NewsCorp representative. Dhruv Agarwala, co-founder and chief executive officer of PropTiger, will serve as its CEO.

Agarwala told the Press Trust of India, "The deal is a continuation of our efforts to bring the best in class services to consumers and create a unified technology-driven platform that is capable of serving all needs of consumers, developers and brokers with respect to buying selling and renting of homes. The timing of this deal is just right.”

Commenting on the investment, REA Group CEO Tracy Fellows said, “India is an important part of our international growth strategy. We believe in the potential of the Indian real estate market. REA invests in companies that are leaders in their markets. The joint entity will have access to REA Group’s expertise and know-how from its operations across the globe.”

Jason Kothari, CEO, Housing.com — who was brought in fix the company founded by Rahul Yadav — will be an advisor till February, and then pursue other interests. 

“Clearly, there is a compelling commercial purpose to the deal, but we also firmly believe in providing transparency, analysis and insight so that all Indian families, regardless of traditional background or means, will have a better understanding of the property market,” said NewsCorp Chief Executive Robert Thomson.

PropTiger is the largest online residential real estate brokerage firm, having completed transactions worth $1.5 billion (Rs 10,200 crore) since it was founded in 2011. Housing is India’s most popular online platform for buying and selling homes, receiving over four million visits every month. 

In the last two years, there has been considerable consolidation in the real estate sector. PropTiger acquired rival Makaan in 2015; CommonFloor merged with Quikr, with investors looking at faster exits and increase the value of their investments.

The deal will also draw curtains on Housing, founded by maverick Yadav, who fought with investors and employees, before being sacked by the board in 2015.

SoftBank Group International Managing Director Jonathan Bullock said, “Housing is very well established as an online real estate platform brand and we have been working with the management team to create strong execution capabilities to offer full stack services under one umbrella. PropTiger has already created a great transaction engine. We have full confidence in the management team and will continue to support them.”