(Yicai Global) Sept. 14 -- Hongqi, a star live-streaming host on Kuaishou Technology's new real estate channel, has sold around CNY1.5 billion (USD216 million) worth of houses on the platform in 10 months.

Hongqi's team sold more than 1,600 houses from last September to July 2022, Ji Xinjun, head of the Beijing-based short-video platform's new business unit Ideal Home, said recently.

The sector is booming as in the past 12 months, the volume of Chinese real estate content creators with followers exceeding 10,000 people grew at a rate of 40 percent, according to official data. More than 5.6 million videos were released and the number of new sessions exceeded 1.3 million. Interactions surpassed 2.2 billion.

Kuaishou began exploring real estate content between 2019 to 2020. Besides home sales, the company has sought to enter the fields of home decoration and furniture.

Real estate developers are embracing the new online trend to sell more amid the sector's downturn. The success of Hongqi's team, which has an 83 percent market share of sales of new properties in Cangzhou in Hebei province, has attracted more real estate companies and streamers to cooperate with each other.

Hongqi joined a group of Kuaishou real-estate streamers in March 2020 to view properties for potential buyers. The influencer said that the platform provides him with support involving traffic and endorsements. On average, 75 people watch each of his shows, according to sources from Kuaishou.

Success has been sticky as last October, almost all of Kuaishou real estate streamers in Cangzhou signed up with the Hongqi team, helping him gain a bigger market share. The team achieved sales of CNY750 million (USD108 million) in half a year.

The major new trend of combining live-streaming and home sales helps developers gain income and customers save time when viewing properties, Tian Ye, project manager of Country Garden Holdings' Shicheng Fudi project in Cangzhou, told Yicai Global.

Country Garden and Kuaishou first started cooperating last September on the developer's Star Diamond project in Jiangsu province, selling CNY100 million worth of homes in seven days. For the Shicheng Fudi project, sales have reached nearly CNY400 million, and almost half of that has come through live-streaming.

Cities including Changchun in Jilin province, Cangzhou, and Tianjin are the main battlefields of Kuaishou real estate streamers. The penetration rate of Kuaishou's mobile application in the three cities is high, and residents have a strong demand for housing.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi