Tenant-based prop platform Beike has big plans for China's market

Peng Yongle stated that his Chinese online platform, Beike, is looking to bring in more than 100 million monthly active users in 2021, a first for a Chinese property portal.

The company has shown explosive growth in the past. Beike was created in April 2018, after real estate brokerage Lianjia, which already had a dominant market share in large cities such as Beijing, rebranded its online business to connect property agents and property seekers countrywide.

A Chinese report shows that only four months after it went online, Beike’s monthly active users exceeded 8 million.

Peng, at a recent summit with the theme “new housing”, said this was possible because of Beike’s advanced digital capability and the fact that Beike has authentic data on a total of 187 million properties, such as location, area, and historical transaction information. He added that the number is set to reach 250 million in the next five years.

Beike’s bold announcement can be seen as a challenge to rival Fang.com.

An established property portal, Fang, which was formerly known as Soufun.com had some 115 million average monthly unique visitors, according to its 2017 annual report. The company, listed in the US since 2010, has yet to release its 2018 annual report.

Although both companies highlight different metrics, the much younger Beike appears set on surpassing Fang to claim that it is the number one in the online real estate sector.

As of December 2018, Beike said it had covered real estate information in 100 Chinese cities, connecting 170,000 brokers with individuals who would like to rent or buy an apartment in China or overseas.

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