Property site gets locals to price president's home

PropertyGuru has launched its “The PropertyGuru Value-The-Istana” contest to rope in the public into guessing the worth of The Istana, the official residence of the president. Held online on the PropertyGuru Facebook page, it is expecting close to 10,000 entries.The contest has garnered PropertyGuru’s Facebook page positive comments and feedback with contestants with the most entries and who referred the most friends being recognised for their efforts with an online posting.“The Istana is not, and will never be, for sale. PropertyGuru’s intent of organising a value-estimate contest is to educate the public on how to accurately put a price tag on a  residential property. We chose The Istana because it is Singapore’s most distinctive home and respected sovereign icon,” Bjorn Sprengers, chief marketing officer, PropertyGuru Group said.The closest-to-accurate winning figure will be decided by a panel of four of Singapore’s top real estate heads and during the contest phase, clues and insights will be proviced as to help come up with an estimated value on The Istana.The contest closes on 7 November 2013. While the winner will be offered a one-night stay at the Raffles Singapore, there are also 10 consolation cash prizes of SG$100 each.