JACKSONVILLE, FL-Brookfield Residential Property Services has snapped up Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services. The deal creates the third-largest residential real estate brokerage business and the world’s second largest relocation services provider. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“This transaction creates a global employee relocation services and real estate franchising leader,” Graham Badun, CEO of Toronto-based Brookfield Residential Property Services, said in a statement. “We have now increased the breadth and depth of our service offering, keeping pace with the evolving needs of our clients around the world.”

Indeed, the deal creates a new industry powerhouse. Through its various brands, Brookfield’s residential real estate franchises are now present in all 50 US states, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and Portugal. In all, Brookfield now has nearly 80,000 real estate agents and 2,800 locations and brokers more than $150 billion in annual residential real estate transactions.

Prudential Network Realty will remain an independently owned and operated local Northeast Florida real estate company under the leadership of president and CEO Linda Sherrer, executive vice president of Residential Real Estate Christy Budnick and partners Thomas Petway, W.A. McGriff, E. Bruce Bower and J. Michael Hughes.

“Northeast Florida hasn’t always had a strong influx of international buyers—now we do,” Sherrer tells GlobeSt.com. “The broader our global footprint, the better chance we have to get relocation referrals to our associates.”

Brookfield Global Relocation Services moves nearly 85,000 families in and out of more than 125 countries around the world each year. With the acquisition, the firm counts more than one third of the Fortune 100 companies as clients. What’s more, Brookfield becomes the largest provider of relocation services to government, with long term relationships with the US and Canadian authorities.  

“Many things are driving international buyers to Northeast Florida,” Sherrer says. “Certainly, investment opportunities in our area are abundant and we’ve always had a stabilized market that recovers much faster than most areas. I think that’s being recognized all over the country and globally also.”