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SCMP Reporter

LJ Hooker, Australia's largest property franchise dealership, has paid an undisclosed sum for Home & Home Properties, an agency which specialises in Mid-Levels properties.

 Anthony Conomos, LJ Hooker's executive director for corporate services, said Hong Kong agencies had been approaching foreign counterparts to form alliances due to the fall in the property market.

 'In the last week we were approached by four agencies,' Mr Conomos said. 'The companies are just coming out of the woodwork. They all seem to be in trouble.'  Tony Chan Tung-ngok, president of the Society of Hong Kong Real Estate Agents, denied his membership was in a panic over the slump.

 He said the society held a meeting to discuss cost-cutting measures.

 The society plans talks with newspaper publishers and developers soon on cuts in advertising charges and rents.

 'What was not on our agenda was any of our members going out of business,' said Mr Chan.

 He said it would make no sense for a company like LG Hooker to buy a Hong Kong real estate agency if the local company was on the verge of going out of business.

 While the property market is expected to go through a downturn for the next two quarters, it should stabilise, he said: 'Nobody is panicking.'  LJ Hooker, which has more than 600 offices in Australia and New Zealand, has been selling properties in Hong Kong to overseas buyers for almost two years, but it is only since June that it has been involved in the local residential market.

 The purchase of Home & Home Properties, which has 11 offices, will give LJ Hooker 17 outlets in Hong Kong.

 Mr Conomos said Hooker planned to change the logo of Home & Home Properties and offer a limited number of franchises for sale.

 The company has nine offices in Mid-Levels and another two in Whampoa Gardens.

 Mr Conomos said his company intended to open another 10 offices soon. 'We are in an expansion mode at a time when everybody else is contracting,' he said.



LJ Hooker swoops on Mid-Levels estate agent