Century 21 Announces 2nd European Venture

For the second time this week, Century 21 Real Estate Corp. said it was starting a new international master franchise in Europe.

The Irvine-based real estate brokerage firm said Tuesday that it sold a master franchise for an undisclosed price to a French group of real estate specialists called Cofradi, which will solicit real estate offices to become Century 21 franchises in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Monaco.

Richard J. Loughlin, president and chief executive officer of Century 21, said Cofradi will immediately start selling franchises in Paris and the Riviera, with the aim of having some offices under the Century 21 banner by spring. Ultimately, he said, Century 21 expects to have between 700 and 800 franchises in the six European countries within the Cofradi sales area.

On Monday, Century 21 announced that it was establishing a master franchise to recruit between 400 and 500 Century 21 offices in the United Kingdom.

Century 21 has more than 6,700 franchise offices in the United States, Canada, Japan and Guam.

Century 21 spokesman Monte Helm said the company is moving into Europe to take advantage of the currently low interest rates there on home mortgages--ranging between 10% to 10.75%--and the high demand for housing now being generated by the European baby-boom generation.