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Graeme Fraser, Auckland Business Performance Manager, presented the City-Side zone awards. In his address he made comment about the growth of the Group on the city side, particularly the top offices which include City Apartments, Ponsonby, Remuera, Royal Oak and Central Auckland Commercial. These businesses have lifted their market share consistently during the year, with the top business on the city-side, being City Apartments, having a market share in excess of 40% for the first time ever. He also recognised Bruce Whillans from Central Auckland Commercial as being the number one salesperson for sales turnover; Marie Raos from Howick as the leading salesperson for business growth; and Damian Piggin and Daniel Horrobin from City Apartments for auction marketing.

Carey Smith presenting Lesley Hawes NZ 2012 Elite Member

Corinna Mansell, National Business Performance Manager, presented the North Shore awards. The top business in the categories of sales turnover and business growth was Pinehill; Whangaparaoa were the leading marketing office.  Individually Darryn Laskey was recognised as the top salesperson for property sales and he was also recognised as number one in business growth.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, in his address spoke about the relevance of individual licensee salespeople. “There is a strong belief within the Ray White Group that the salesperson is the one who becomes the choice of the vendor.”  He said that the Group is ensuring our salespeople are well profiled, have outstanding marketing material and also have industry leading technology.

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The top office for the month was Ray White Auckland Central Commercial, completing sales in excess of $16 million. The Ray White Remuera office was number two. Ray White Metro in Christchurch completed sales of $8.5 million, while Ray White Ponsonby and Ray White City Apartments also had a strong month with sales over $8 million.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White said that the results reflected the lack of new listings which are being presented to the market. “When you look closer at the numbers, Auckland continues to show increases on last year’s turnover however there are far less properties being listed for sale. This will inevitably put pressure on prices and will also provide more buyer competition for each property actively marketed.  Also of interest is the Canterbury market where sales were at the same level as the same time last year. There are a lot less properties coming to the market in this area but the take up of stock and the reduction in the total properties available has been considerable.  Across New Zealand our results were similar to that of 2010 and while listing stock remains the driver to many key indicators, there are certainly a good number of properties turning over in the current market. The other variables that we see going forward include the upcoming interest rate announcement in September and the activity that will result from the Rugby World Cup.”

The Ray White Group has offices across the country and lists on average 21,000 properties per annum. The Group is also the leading facilitator of property management in New Zealand with 14,600 properties managed for landlords.

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The awards were supported by the Loan Market Group, with Chief Executive David Hart speaking about current interest rates, the availability of finance and the introduction of marketing support for our members to provide to potential sellers.

The first awards presented recognised top Loan Market referrals.  Other awards presented included individual sales turnover, business growth and auction and tender marketing; with office awards also categorised in sales turnover, business growth and marketing.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, spoke on the new web presence of the Group and the pending release of individual websites that will be available for every Ray White member. He went on to say that the public awareness of property, and in particular agents, was predominantly first introduced to potential clients through the web. Individual sales agents having websites will be a credibility statement for the best in the industry.  He also congratulated the award winners in market conditions that are very much about ensuring that negotiations and marketing remained at the forefront of the sale process.

Other awards recognised were the first two Premier members on the North Shore for 2011.  Liz Parker and Helene Brownlee, who are both current Elite members, have achieved Premier status for 2011 in four months of trading. They were also recognised as the top salespeople on the North Shore together with Ann Emerson from Browns Bay.

Pictured here are the top salespeople who were recognised at the North Shore Quarterly Awards held at the Spencer on Byron.

Carey Smith, Ray White New Zealand Chief Executive, said he was thrilled to have Mark and the team on board in Manukau. “The Ray White Group is considered a market leader in South Auckland and the addition of Mark and his team joining the Group in Manukau will add to that presence.  I expect the business will be dynamic given the individuals involved and will also have an accent on auction marketing.”

The business will continue to grow in the foreseeable future, with additional services including property management, financial lending and utilities.

For further information on the Manukau franchise please see their local website.

Downes said that offers would be requested from some 20 or so pre-qualified prospects inviting them to participate in the process. Since his last Soho sale tender round a year ago, which did not produce an acceptable offer, the Receivers’ focus had been on obtaining an enhanced consent, allowing for a much larger development on the site. The enhanced consent was granted on 29 March 2011, which allows for a 45,348 square metre gross floor area mixed use development on the site (up from 32,286 square metre GFA) .

Downes said that the enhanced consent set the stage for a fresh sales campaign. Given the  level of interest shown in Soho from a number of potential developers and his view on the recent increased activity in the commercial property market, Downes is confident that, this time, Soho will be sold.

For a full Information Memorandum on SOHO Square, please contact

Brendan Keenan Senior Analyst Ray White Commercial brendan.keenan@raywhite.com 0r +64 21 161 3882

For information regarding the sale of  SOHO Square, please contact

Bruce Whillans Director Ray White Commercial bruce.whillans@raywhite.com 0r +64 21 985 619

At the Ray White Annual Awards property management is recognised in two categories – Property Management Office of the Year and Property Manager of the Year.  These qualitative awards take into account systems, service and growth. 

The Property Management Offices of the Year were Papakura, Tower Junction in Canterbury, Epsom and the Goodwin Group.  The individual property managers, who were recognised with awards included Ray Hastie (Sumner), Beth Chisholm (Queenstown), Ali Herter (Epsom), Martin Donnelly (Epsom) and Philip Somerville (Goodwin Group).  

The growth in property management across New Zealand continues unabated.  The Ray White Group increased its portfolio by 9% during the past 12 months. The Ray White Group has a focus on developing systems and processes for their members which enables communication at a superior level, real time marketing and online reporting. Celia Burbery, NZ Business Development Executive – Property Management, said that continuing to strive to new levels of service was of the upmost importance to the Group.  “Our continued skill development programmes are a testament to that. Our award winners who are recognised in the area of property management were acknowledged because of their outstanding service, amongst other criteria.”

The Ray White Group has 183 property managers who work through the 136 office network of the Group.

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Lesley Hawes began her real estate career in Wellington in the early 1990s, moving to Auckland with her family in 1995 to live and work in real estate in the Western Springs area of Auckland.  Every year since 1999 Lesley has been ranked in the top three salespeople in the group.

Ruth Hawes, after a successful 10 year career in nursing, decided to join her mother at their top performing office in Kingsland just over two years ago. She began working as an apprentice to her mother to gain the experience to stand her in good steed to take up a position as an individual salesperson.  It was in the latter part of 2009 when Ruth began to facilitate sales in her own right.

In presenting the award for the Salesperson of the Year, Carey Smith, NZ Chief Executive, said that Lesley and Ruth, individually and together, typify many of the values that are shared within Ray White.  “They are family, they have a love of real estate and specialise in the community they live in.  They have a unique blend of caring but also an efficiency of knowing how to have an outcome of a successful sale.”  Lesley Hawes, in accepting her award, recognised her team, including Ruth, her husband Chris and the balance of the staff at the Kingsland office.  She said her results would not be possible without such wonderful people that she has the ability to call on.  Ruth Hawes also spoke about family values and how working with families in assisting them buy and sell property was a wonderful career that she loved.  Being recognised with her mother individually, but collectively, was the highlight of her career.

The Ray White Group in New Zealand has 1,315 salespeople and has 136 offices trading $4.71 billion in property sales annually.

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In being marketed by Auction the property was feature displayed in the New Zealand herald, together with internet marketing on trademe and realestate.co.nz. The home was viewed by 230 groups over a 3 week marketing campaign. The Auction night saw 8 registered bidders with 5 0f those bidders participating up to a bidding level of $2.3 mil.

Simon Damerell co-owner of Ray White Ponsonby said that the sale reflected the continuing desire for people to live in the Ponsonby area in a quality home. We have strived over a long period of time to ensure the success of our Auction programmes and with our complete focus on our team getting more for vendors, this is a result of that team effort.

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