Real estate giant SOHO China is likely to join hands with search engine Baidu Inc to sell homes online, two top executives from the companies suggested on Sunday.

It will be the first major tie-up between a landdeveloper and an Internet company if the partnershipis realized.

Attending a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan province, Zhang Yaqin, president of Baidu, said he and SOHO Chairman Pan Shiyi was discussingthepossibility ofapartnership to create a new waytoselling apartments inChina.

Details of the discussion was unclear but Zhang said it wasina very early stage.

Pan also showed interestinteaming up with Baidu, the world's largest Chinese-language online search provider.

"China's fortunetotaled 180 trillion yuan nowadays and half of the sum was contributed bythereal estate industry. A cooperation with the booming Internet sector will help therealestate market to create larger value," Pan said.

"Huge potential lies in the integration between the two industries."

SOHOhasdeveloped many landmarks inBeijing, including an office-apartment complex in the city's business district and the space-ship like Galaxy SOHO in one of the most ancient areas of the Chinese capital.