Century 21 Takes On Local Market

Business Day:

US-BASED international real estate group Century 21 is set to enter SA’s property market and roll out 200 franchise offices over the next five years.

Century 21, which employs 144000 estate agents in more than 8000 offices in about 45 countries, concluded a master franchise agreement with locally based real estate operator Duncan Gray at the end of last year.

Gray, who will be CEO of Century 21 SA, said yesterday that Century 21, which is owned by New York Stock Exchange-listed holding company Cendant, had been considering candidates for the South African master franchise for the group over the past two years and that he had been successful in his “approaches to them� last year.

Gray said Century 21, which focuses on commercial and residential property brokering, was attracted to the local property market because it had distinguished itself internationally as a more attractive investment destination than other markets.

“The equity market in SA is constantly in competition with other equity markets around the world. Similarly, with currencies, SA’s currency has performed very well over the last few years and increasingly the property market is competing better on the international stage.�

Gray said the group would be brokering South African properties to local and international buyers.

“I’ve secured the name Century 21 for SA and I’ll be rolling out franchise offices in SA. We’re looking at rolling out 200 Century 21 offices in five years and probably rounding off at about 400 in 10 years as the market stands now,� he said.