Beyond PropertyGuru & 99.co: Hozuko as a Smart Alternative

If you handle rentals in Singapore, you probably live inside PropertyGuru and 99.co every day. They bring in serious tenants, but subscriptions, credits and boosts add up quickly. At the same time, renters are spreading out across newer platforms like Hozuko, and informal channels such as Facebook Marketplace and Telegram groups.

Instead of betting everything on one or two portals, it makes more sense to build a stack of rental channels. In this guide, we compare the main options and show where Hozuko fits in as a smart, more affordable supplement to your existing PropertyGuru and 99.co setup.

Quick answer: your rental listing stack at a glance

If you want more enquiries without blowing up your marketing budget, this is a practical mix for rentals in Singapore:

• PropertyGuru & 99.co – Your baseline portals. Strong brand recognition, especially for whole units and mid to high budget tenants. Still important for landlord expectations.
• Hozuko – A rental-first platform that you layer on top of PG / 99 as a more affordable channel with strong traffic growth and serious renters, especially for rooms and co-living.
• Facebook Marketplace / Telegram groups – Useful for extra visibility and last-minute leads, but very noisy and higher scam risk. Best as a supporting channel, not your main one.

Side-by-side overview for rental agents

1. PropertyGuru & 99.co : your baseline portals

For most Singapore agents, PropertyGuru and 99.co are still the default places for “serious” rental stock. Landlords know these brands and many tenants start their search there.

Where they shine:

• Whole-unit HDB and condo rentals
• Landlords who insist on “seeing it on PropertyGuru”
• Corporate and higher-budget tenants who shortlist via portals

Where agents feel the pain:

• Subscriptions and credit-based systems can be expensive if you focus heavily on room rentals
• Lower-rent units and common layouts can drown in competition without frequent boosting
• You often pay premium prices to reach the same tenant pool as every other agent

You probably will not switch away from PG and 99.co entirely, and you do not have to. Instead, think of them as your baseline portals, then add other channels around them to lower your overall cost per lead.

2. Hozuko: your rental-first growth channel

Hozuko is a newer rental platform in Singapore built specifically for the rental journey rather than sales. It is designed as a supplementary channel to your PropertyGuru and 99.co presence, giving you more reach at a lower cost.

Why Hozuko works well with PropertyGuru and 99.co

You keep your core listings on PG and 99, then:

• Add those units to Hozuko to reach renters who actively seek newer, rental-focused platforms
• Use Hozuko to capture room, co-living and direct landlord traffic that may not always start on the big portals
• Reduce your dependency on high-cost boosts since you are diversifying where your enquiries come from

Hozuko positions itself as a more affordable alternative with:

• No heavy subscription lock-in for rental-focused agents
• Strong traffic growth and renter enquiries, especially in the room and co-living segment
• Renters who are actively trying to secure a place, not just browsing casually

Built for the way people rent now in Singapore

On Hozuko, you will see:

• Agents, landlords, co-living operators and lease takeovers in the same marketplace
• Renters who are open to different setups (rooms, whole units, shared apartments), which gives you more angles to close deals
• A product experience tuned for Singapore neighbourhoods, MRT access and real rental constraints, instead of a generic global layout

Focus on trust, verification and safety

Trust is a big part of Hozuko’s value:

• Landlords can verify themselves using Singpass, giving renters more confidence when shortlisting
• Agents can receive renter enquiries via WhatsApp while still being discoverable in a trusted, structured environment
• Scam-mitigation features and in-platform chat help filter out suspicious profiles, protecting both landlords and renters

For you as an agent, this means you can show up alongside verified landlords and operators in a marketplace where renters feel safer and more willing to move quickly.

3. Facebook Marketplace & Telegram groups: loud but messy

Facebook Marketplace and Telegram rental groups are everywhere. They are tempting because of the huge reach, but they come with trade-offs.

Why agents still use them:

• Fast visibility, especially for urgent move-in cases
• Access to expat and student communities that organise themselves in groups
• Easy resharing among friends and contacts

Key downsides:

• High noise: your listing sits among spam, outdated posts and unrealistic offers
• Greater scam risk and more cautious renters, which means more back-and-forth just to establish trust
• Posts sink quickly in active groups, so you need constant reposting and manual effort to stay visible

This is why it makes sense to treat Facebook and Telegram as supporting channels only. Use them to create awareness, then funnel serious leads back to trusted platforms such as Hozuko, PropertyGuru and 99.co, where your identity, track record and listing details are clear.

4. How to combine these platforms strategically

Here is a simple way to plan your channel mix as an agent in Singapore.

If you focus on whole-unit rentals

• Keep PropertyGuru and 99.co as your core for landlord expectations and high-intent tenants
• Mirror your key listings on Hozuko to tap into its rental-first audience and growing traffic
• Use Facebook / Telegram for awareness and last pushes, but always redirect serious conversations into a proper portal where details and verification are clear

If you focus on rooms and co-living

• Make Hozuko your main workhorse for room and co-living enquiries
• Use PropertyGuru / 99.co selectively when landlords request it or when rental is high enough to justify the subscription
• Layer in Facebook / Telegram as a top-of-funnel source, then move serious prospects back into Hozuko or your main portals

If you are building a long-term personal brand

• Keep your photo, CEA number and contact details consistent across all platforms
• Highlight that you list on both established portals and newer, verified platforms like Hozuko
• Make it easy for renters to check you across multiple channels, which builds trust and speeds up decision-making

FAQ: rental listing alternatives in Singapore

Q1: Can I rely only on free platforms for rentals in Singapore?
You can, but it is risky to rely on any single channel. Free platforms often have higher noise and scam risk, and you may miss serious tenants who only search on PG or 99. A blended strategy usually wins: at least one major portal, plus Hozuko, plus one or two social channels.

Q2: Is Hozuko only for rooms?
No. Hozuko supports the full range of residential rentals from rooms to whole units, across HDB, condo, landed and co-living setups. The platform is simply seeing particularly strong traction in the room rental and shared living segments.

Q3: If Hozuko is more affordable, what is the catch?
Hozuko is in growth mode, so the goal is to bring in as many quality listings and renters as possible. Monetisation come later through features such as bumps that sit on top of a healthy rental marketplace, instead of charging high gatekeeping fees upfront.

6. Key takeaway for agents

You do not have to choose between PropertyGuru and “everything else”. The smarter move is to:

• Treat PropertyGuru and 99.co as your foundation
• Layer Hozuko on top as a rental-first, more affordable supplementary channel with strong traffic growth and serious renters
• Use Facebook Marketplace and Telegram groups to reach wider audiences, while filtering and bringing serious tenants back into trusted platforms

This way, you diversify your lead sources, protect your margins and stay in front of renters wherever they are searching in Singapore.