A Business Mind: Asif Ghafoor, founder of Spacious Hong Kong

When Asif Ghafoor came to Hong Kong from Britain five years ago he was stunned at how outdated the technology for online property searches was in the city’s vibrant housing market. He also believed the market could be made more transparent. Having worked for more than a decade in equity technology for international banks, in 2012 Ghafoor started Spacious.hk, a property listing website that links up buyers, tenants and property agents.

How do you think Spacious.hk can impact the property market?

Many people in Hong Kong think developers have too much power and I totally agree. One goal of Spacious.hk is to give the market more transparency. 

The rental market is poorly managed; tenants are often left in the dark. In Singapore, tenants can check every transaction with the government, but in Hong Kong they can only refer to agents on pricing information, and very often do not get the  full picture. 

We try to give users as much information about the property as possible. I have devoted a lot of effort to developing a website that makes use of maps to give users a clear picture of where the property is and information about the neighbourhood.    

There is also a mobile app version that allows users to locate property easily when they are visiting neighbourhoods. I hope my work can help bring an extra level of transparency to the property market.