Hang Lung Development aims to provide mainland property buyers with a one-stop shop for legal and financial services with a HK$10 million Guangdong-based joint venture, according to Hang Lung executive director Alfred Li Hung-kwan.
Newly formed Guangzhou Top Home Technology was Hang Lung's second non-property investment since it announced a HK$2 billion diversification plan last month, he said.
Guangzhou Top Home Technology will target the second-hand property market in the Pearl River Delta to tap the growing demand for full-scale supporting services for home buyers, he said.
Hang Lung has a 50 per cent stake in Guangzhou Top Home Technology, while the balance is owned by Guangzhou-based Pearl River Hang Cheong Information Technology.
Mr Li attributed the inactive second-hand market in the mainland partly to insufficient information and infrastructure needed to speed-up transactions.
There are about 10,000 individual property agents in the mainland but only about 10 property agencies handle the second-hand housing market, he said.