Residents select houses at a sales center of a real estate company in Huaian, East China's Jiangsu Province on Sunday. As China's domestic coronavirus control has made progress, local real estate companies have opened while observing strict measures against the virus. Photo: cnsphotos

A Chinese billionaire from the property industry has died, aged 50, according to company announcement.

Zuo Hui, founder and chairman of China-based real estate services provider KE Holdings Inc, has passed away of illness on Thursday "due to unexpected worsening of illness," the company said in a news wire.

KE Holdings floated at the New York Stock Exchange last October and Zuo's net worth grew significantly as a result. By some accounts, his net worth reached 118 billion yuan ($18.33 billion) in 2021 from 30 billion in 2020.

Zuo was one of Chinese mainland's richest property industry players, although his business dealt with the transactions of properties, rather than construction and development.

KE Holdings, or Beike, owns Chinese brokerage business Lianjia and fast-growing online platform Beike Zhaofang.

Global Times