China launches probe into country's biggest housing broker KE

The probe into the company, which is backed by Tencent Holdings, was reported on by Reuters on Tuesday who spoke with two people who know of the matter.

The investigation is the latest into China's big so-called "platform" companies that match sellers and buyers, several of which have been accused by regulators of exploiting consumers.

KE Holdings operates housing platforms Lianjia and Beike in China and was issued a warning by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in April, along with dozens of internet companies, against any abuse of market dominance and told to conduct self-inspections.

The company reportedly declined to comment to Reuters but in a later statement on its Chinese social media accounts Beike denied that "SAMR had opened a case against Beike".

This is the latest of cases opened by the SAMR recently after last month it imposed a record fine on Alibaba Group of $2.8bn. The regulator found that the e-commerce giant had been preventing its merchants from using other online e-commerce platforms since 2015.