U.S. home sales giant Century 21 Real Estate LLC is acquiring a stake in a domestic real estate agency, the target company said Thursday.

Century 21's Chinese unit has signed an agreement with Bonity Property Group (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. to take over its residential property service outlets in Shanghai, a Bonity spokeswoman said.

"Century 21 is acquiring our residential offices," Vanessa Yan said, adding that the firm has 22 outlets in the city, including residential and commercial property offices.

She declined to elaborate.

The U.S. firm, which says it is the world's largest residential real estate sales group, will take all Bonity outlets in Shanghai under its own brand, the Shanghai Securities News cited sources as saying Thursday.

Spokespersons with the Parsippany, New Jersey-based Century 21 could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.

Property markets in Shanghai were active in the third quarter, with strong demand for office and retail space, despite intensified official efforts to cool the property sector, property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle said earlier this month.

Transaction volume in Shanghai's residential property market rose by 76 percent.

Century 21, which has 7,800 offices in more than 42 countries worldwide, is a unit of Realogy Corp., a real estate franchiser spun off from Cendant Corp. in August.

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