China developer launches Airbnb-like platform to tap unsold homes

By Clare Jim HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese developer Fantasia Holdings Group has launched a vacation rental business similar to Airbnb Inc and HomeAway Inc to utilise the scores of homes left unsold as a property boom faded. Fantasia’s Home ENE online platform, launched last month, will rival Tujia, the Chinese home rental firm that this week raised $300 million from investors including Singapore-based developer CapitaLand Ltd and Hong-Kong’s All-Stars Investment Ltd to expand at home and abroad. “There are more than 50 million vacant units in urban China, which have become a major source of properties for vacation use,” Fantasia chairman and CEO Pan Jun said in a statement on Wednesday.

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