This study examines translation methods applied in real estate advertisements of Macao, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Chongqing, and investigates the phenomena of information addition, preservation and reduction in the translating process. The present study applies Reiss's text typology as major theoretical framework, and identifies translation methods including SPECIFICATION, ADDITION, PARAPHRASING, LOAN WORDS, CALQUE, NEUTRALIZATION, BULUTRAL SUBSTITUTION, OMISSION. Our sample of 9,000 words of real estate advertisements is collected from the real estate agencies and developers' websites in Macao, Hong Kong and China Mainland. The results indicate that OMISSION and ADDITION are the most commonly used translation methods, and that the group C of reducing information shows the highest occurrence in all the regions. Communicative translation appears to be the appropriate strategy to present information and appeal TT readers to purchase. Case analysis is used to demonstrate the application of translation methods in concrete contexts. In addition, the most plausible reasons for the use of the translation methods are discussed, including wording convention, target addressees, medium, advertising context and global branding. Keywords: advertisement translation, function, text typology, translation typology, translation method