Chinese Internet portal China.com has formed a strategic partnership with real estate website SouFun.

Under the terms of the agreement, SouFun will purchase exclusive rights for one year to sell advertisements on the real estate channel of China.com, which is a Hong Kong listed subsidiary of CDC Corporation (CHINA), and organize marketing events for advertisers across China. SouFun also has the option to extend the contract beyond the initial one-year term. As part of the strategic partnership, the two companies will leverage their extensive resources to promote and support their services with the mutual goal of increasing brand equity for both companies.

SouFun is a 51% owned company of Telstra, Australia's leading telecommunications and information services company that is listed in the Fortune Global 500. Founded in 1999, SouFun.com claims to be China's number one real estate website and one of the world's top 100 online destinations with over 44 million user visits and 1.3 billion page views each month.

"We are pleased to expand our coverage through China.com," said Mo Tianquan, CEO of SouFun. "China.com has a huge professional user base with a high level of education and income. We believe this strategic partnership and our recent agreement will significantly expand our target audience and consolidate our leading position as China's number one real estate website."