Archive for the ‘real estate comments’ Category

Please click here for CEO Comments that are now posted for August 5, 2011

Past comments are filed here under Previous Comments.

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Ray White recently launched its new national website together with 135 local office websites in mid May 2011.  The recent Google analytics report for the collective Ray White websites showed that during the past month there have been a total of 241,228 visits to our sites.  Of those 35% came from direct traffic, 19% came from referring sites, with the balance coming from search engines.

One of the changes to the referring sites shows that Facebook is now the highest referrer for the Ray White Group for individual properties that are visited from a primary referral source.  During the past 12 months Facebook has consistently moved up the rankings and is now a clear number one referrer to our company website.  Another area of interest in 2010 for the same period the average visitor viewed 3.3 pages and stayed on our site 2.59 minutes.  In a snapshot that was taken last week for the same period, our total visitors has increased by 33%, with the average pages viewed just under doubling to 6.37 and the average time on our site has also increased substantially to 4.32 minutes.

Collectively this shows the consistent and ongoing optimization that the Ray White Group has been putting into their web platform to maintain one of the leading positions in the industry.

Keith Ashkettle, head of technology for Ray White New Zealand, said that two key indicators for visitors were the speed of the site and the rich content of their experience when they come to the site. “Our property display now has integrated features which include school zones, a full suite of mapping and community information.  This has translated into the visitor spending more time on our site to get much greater detail of the property they are showing interest in.”  He went on to say that the enquiry rate from the local Ray White sites has also increased substantially and this has been a highlight in the response to our new platform.

The Ray White Group partner with Trade Me Property, realestate.co.nz and also have total membership to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.  The new web platform is designed to respond at a national, local and individual level and this has kept Ray White as one of the industry leaders in technology in the real estate agency business.

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The Ray White Group has been a member of the SuperGold Card programme since it was first launched in 2007. The SuperGold Card membership base now stands at more than 5,000 outlets, where SuperGold Card holders can receive discounts and concessions.

Every eligible senior and veteran is given a SuperGold Card and this is issued free of charge along with the SuperGold Card directory, which is also available online.  The number of people eligible for a SuperGold Card was 2010 is 625,000.

The Ray White Group is the only fully subscribed National franchise participant in the SuperGold Card programme and we offer 10% discount to those sellers who hold a SuperGold Card and list their property with the Ray White Group. Please see conditions on the SuperGold web site.

We have been given consistent recognition within the SuperGold Card directory and we are pleased to confirm that as a group we have re-signed our membership with the SuperGold Card programme for a further 12 months until June 2012.

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Two of the most familiar names in the Ray White Group will come together on 29^th July at Eden Park to present a full day that is described as the ‘Holy Grail of Real Estate’.

Simon Damerell, co-principal of Ray White Ponsonby, and Darryl Spense, a multiple Elite performer, will provide practical advice, skills and tools which will put those who attend on a path to riches and personal satisfaction.

For further information on the programme and seminar schedule please click here. Please see here for booking information.

Just over 150 members of Ray White North Shore attended a quarterly breakfast function held in Takapuna this morning.

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.

The Ray White Group has released its March White Paper written by Group Chairman, Brian White.  This monthly newsletter gives an insight into the current market conditions across New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia together with recent activity within the Group.  Please click here to read the latest White Paper.

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 Bruce Whillans of Ray White Commercial has produced his Auckland Commercial first quarter 2011 market update, the report also covers the activities in which are occurring in the Central Business District of Auckland. The report includes vacancy rates,  yield and rental return. Analyst Brendan Kennan looks at the area of Auckland housing and also profiled are a number of significant properties that are currently being marketed by Ray White Commercial Auckland.

For further information regarding the report please contact Bruce Whillans on: 021 985 619  bruce.whillans@raywhite.com

To see the first quarter Auckland commercial market update pleas click here

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The first quarter reflected this confidence with 14,500 sales.  Our group market share hit a new high and this set a platform for what we felt was going to be a year that saw the industry return to better times.  In April the Government started to mute on the basis of changes to LAQCs and also personal taxation advantages.  Their dissertation behind this was to make property less friendly and steer people towards personal saving with the benefit of tax deductions and a higher awareness of Kiwi Saver. In the midst of all this came two interest rate increases.  These were minor but enough to move property into an unfriendly position and to again be questioned as to its value from an investor point of view. 

The second quarter plummeted. Sales were almost 30% down on the previous year and close to mirroring the numbers of 2008.  Our group was acclimatised to these conditions, but you got the feeling this was going to set in for some period of time.  In June we had our third interest rate rise which was enough to send the signal to the market that property sales were going to go into hibernation.  Most in the industry understand that to have buyers you need to have sellers.  Sellers come to the market when there is confidence that they can market their property to receive a satisfactory return on the price that they may have originally paid.   The lack of confidence from sellers then began to domino towards the buying market. 

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Mark Ferguson, who is the owner of Ray White Taranaki, has featured in the NBR Property supplement.  Mark has had a long career in the real estate  and joined the Ray White Group a number of years ago in the capacity of Business Development Manager.   He moved to the Taranaki  just on four years ago to take up ownership of a multi office franchise operation and just over 12 months ago opened Ray White Taranaki, with the business completing over 71 property sales in the first year.

To read the NBR Property Pro article please click here.

The Prier Manson Group is proud to announce their fourth office opening through managers Marie Malone and Daisy Foldesi in the port town of Lyttelton.  Marie and Daisy have been active real estate sales agents in the market for many years.  Director of the Prier Manson Group, Craig Prier, said “In opening the office at Lyttelton it has provided additional reach for the group given their already strong offices in Redcliffs, Sumner and Opawa.”

The business will be able to gain from the market exposure of the Ray White Group throughout Canterbury as it enables property from Lyttelton to be exposed through marketing to the wider community.  He went on to say that “Although the market is small in the Lyttelton area, there is a need for a high level of service and marketing to ensure that sales continue to occur through the region.  “The managers we have in place, he said, are the best in the area and we are very pleased to have them as part of our team.”

Kyle Pitman, General Manager for the Ray White Group, said “Lyttelton is a market that has been developing over many years.  The strength of the port and the growth of the community have enabled the Prier Manson Group to open up the new office in Lyttelton with confidence.”  He went on to say that he expects the office to gain market share quickly as there is a need for a high profile real estate business in Lyttelton and the Ray White team, through managers Marie Malone and Daisy Foldesi, will ensure the success of the business.

The office becomes our 23rd business in the Canterbury region.