(Yicai Global) Aug. 20 -- Shares of two Chinese online real estate agencies KE Holdings and Fangdd Network Group tumbled after eastern China's Hangzhou opened the country's first government-backed platform for second-hand homes.

KE Holdings [NYSE: BEKE], also known as Beike, dropped almost 14.9 percent to close at USD17.01 in New York yesterday with a market capitalization of USD20.3 billion.

Fangdd [NASDAQ: DUO] closed down 6.7 percent at USD1.39 yesterday, with a market cap of USD111 million.

The Hangzhou Municipal Housing Security and Management Bureau opened the online marketplace on Aug. 18 to allow property sellers and buyers to directly communicate with each other.

Impact on Pricing

The new platform could curb price hikes in the city where Alibaba Group Holding is based. Last month, Hangzhou's second-hand housing price index jumped 7.8 percent from a year ago, much higher than the general growth rate of 3.5 percent in Chinese second-tier cities, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Hangzhou’s move to build the first direct selling platform nationwide is quite innovative and can offer more options to buyers and sellers, China Securities Journal reported, citing Yan Yuejin, research director at the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute.

That could spark a disruptive shift. About 85 percent of China’s second-hand property transactions are facilitated by brokerages so the ratio for independent deals is not high, said Yan.

The new platform limits how much information real estate brokers can collect about property owners, local media Dushikuaibao reported, citing Hu Pingli, who works for the municipal property bureau.

However, brokerages cannot be completely replaced as they can help clients with mortgages and property right inquiries, said Hu. Moreover, the new platform cannot monitor clients' funds yet but such a feature should be added later, she added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi