One of the top property classified sites Realestate.com.au is aggressively moving into online real estate markets in Asia, launching two new sites in Hong Kong and Dubai, The Australian reported Wednesday.

The company's objective is to “become number one or number two” in every market it operates in, Chief Executive Simon Baker told the company's annual general meeting, according to The Australian.

Currently, Realestate.com is the number one property classified site in Australia, Italy and Luxembourg, and is strong several other markets, including in the United Kingdom through propertyfinder.com, Baker said.

Realestate.com, majority owned by News Limited, which publishes The Australian, bought Hong Kong's leading English language property publication, Square Foot magazine, in September. Last month it launched Squarefoot.com.hk. In the past few weeks, Realestate.com has relaunched a real estate Web site in Dubai, connected to a property magazine publisher it bought in October, as Propertyfinder.ae.

The moves, especially the Hong Kong acquisition, are a “learning platform” and a way to test more moves into Asia, Baker said.

“We're now very close to what's happening in Singapore, mainland China and Japan. It's easy to use that as a staging post to learn more about Asia. And if opportunities do arise, we can execute,” he said, according to The Australian.