Harcourts Achieves New Milestone With Record Month

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Harcourts Achieves New Milestone With Record Month

9 March 2007

Harcourts New Zealand has recorded its best month ever in its 119 year history despite persistent commentary that a slow-down is imminent. Harcourts New Zealand CEO, Bryan Thomson, confirmed that in February 2007 the value of Harcourts’ written sales was a “massive” $1.061 billion. For the just on 183 Harcourts offices nationwide, that averaged out to close to $38 million per day, or $1.6 million worth of written property sales an hour.

February was also a record month for Harcourts’ Northern Regional offices (includes Auckland) in terms of the value of written sales, which Mr Thomson said was particularly pleasing given Harcourts’ aggressive growth strategy focused on market leadership in Auckland. “Many of our Auckland offices also broke their own office bests and as a group contributed 30 percent of our written sales value for February.” The other Harcourts region to enjoy its best ever month was South Island Provincial which he added was a clear indication of the healthy demand for property in the provinces that has only strengthened over recent months.

Mr Thomson commented that this was a “sensational result. As a brand which has continued to dominate, we have concentrated heavily on our four core values which we believe is a very real strength behind our success. We run our business based on ‘People First’, ‘Being Courageous’, ‘Doing the Right Thing’, and ‘Fun and Laughter’. Not only has this lifted the performance of our existing team, it has also attracted others who are looking to work in a values based organisation to join our team.”

“February was a wonderful month. The employment market was strong, the weather wonderful, and our Black Caps beat Australia three times in row! Simply put, a powerful combination like this places people in a very positive mind set when it comes to making major decisions.”

With January also a strong month, looking ahead, Mr Thomson advised sellers not to hesitate to capitalise on that buying confidence, with buyers needing to ensure they were in a strong position to make immediate decisions. “While still astute about realistic prices, buyers are noting competition is ferocious. Multi-offers are still the norm for good quality and well marketed property, along with record auction results, all driven by a sense of urgency founded on strong buying confidence.”

As the largest real estate group in New Zealand and the fastest growing group in Australasia, Harcourts now has close to 430 offices in New Zealand, every State in Australia, Fiji and Indonesia.

ENDS

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