News Release 2 September 2003
Australasian Real Estate Auctioneering Championships come to Wellington
The biennial Australasian Championships for real estate auctioneers this year are being held for the first time in New
Zealand, in Wellington on 8 & 9 September.
“The championships will bring together the best practitioners of the craft, two from each Australian State and Territory
and two from New Zealand. The contestants will pit their skills against each other over two days, with both the heats
and finals open to the public to attend,” Graeme Woodley, National President of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand
Inc (REINZ).
Over 300 real estate people are expected to be in Wellington for the championships which are being held at the Hotel
Intercontinental, which is also the venue for the REINZ’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, 10 September.
The announcement of the 2003 winner will be made on the evening of Tuesday, 9 September, before a Grand Charity Auction,
conducted by the finalists.
“These championships are keenly contested. They are exciting, entertaining and enlightening, and the proceeds of the
auction will benefit a local charity.”
This year the Wellington Life Flight Trust, who provide air rescue services to the Greater Wellington Region, Wairarapa
and Marlborough, have been chosen as the cause for the charity auction. Members of the public attending the
championships can also contribute to the work of the Trust by making a gold coin donation at the event.
The auctioneering championship heats are from 9.00 a.m. on Monday, 8 September. The finalists will be announced at
around 5.30 p.m. and at 9.30 a.m. the following day, Tuesday 9 September, the contestants will view the residential
property that they will auction later that day.
The championship finals are to take place between 3.30 – 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday, 9 September, in the Lambton Room of the
Hotel Intercontinental, and are again open to the public.
Fairfax New Zealand Ltd, in conjunction with their Wellington-based newspaper The Dominion Post, are principal sponsors
of the Championships and REINZ’s AGM.
Real estate group Harcourts International, whose New Zealand chief executive Bryan Thomson is one of the contestants,
are also supporting the event as associate sponsors.
Drummond Guy, the current Chairman of the Australasian Senior Auctioneering Championships Committee, was responsible for
bringing these Championships to New Zealand for the first time since their inception in Hobart in 1993.
“I look forward to another great trans-Tasman competition and to welcoming the leading lights of the real estate
industry, from around Australia and this country to Wellington in September,” Mr Woodley said.
ENDS
Information about the Australasian Auctioneering Championships’ can also be found on the REINZ website:
http://www.reinz.org.nz/australasianauctioneer
ISSUED BY SORENSEN GROUP ON BEHALF OF REINZ