Archive for the ‘reinz’ Category

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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Ray White is proud to announce that their Group are to be members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.  The total membership means that the Group will have an alignment with the Real Estate Institute that provides education platforms, workshops, seminars as well as potential compulsory potential development for the Group.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand provide a platform for best practice standards with up to date and current legislation, with members being bound by codes of agency practice at all levels of membership.   In addition to this, the Real Estate Institute provide the most current sales data which ensures property owners are being given information that is the latest throughout the industry

Helen O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Real Estate Institute, said she was delighted to have Ray White become members of the Institute as a total group. “Ray White is a key industry player and to have their endorsement is confirmation of the direction we are heading for the greater industry.”

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, said he is pleased to confirm that all Ray White offices and salespeople will be members of the Institute for the ensuing year.  “We believe in the importance of a strong industry body and are pleased to support the Institute through the leadership of Chairperson Roseanne Meo and Chief Executive Helen O’Sullivan.”

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand has been a mark of quality for the industry for over 100 years.  There are more than 10,000 real estate salespeople in New Zealand and the Real Estate Institute provides services to all levels of the agency business.

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The Ray White Group saw a reduced number of sales for April 2010 of 9% in comparison to the April results in 2009.  In comparison to last month, property sales fell by 12%. 

The top offices for the month included Ponsonby who completed close to $20 million in sales turnover, Kohimarama, Manukau, Howick and Ellerslie.  Offices that achieved the highest zone area increase included Kerikeri, Hamilton City, Palmerston North, Mapua, Merivale and Invercargill. Our marketing presence increased by 13% and this is measured on the overall presence in key media throughout New Zealand. 

The lower volume of sales is attributed to Easter and the school holiday period through April, and while the results in the listing stock saw an increase from 12 months ago of 12% it was a reduction of almost 19% on March 2010.  The number of new listings linked to the lower level of sales volume continues to show a consistent market for buyers and for sellers.  The Ray White Group results were in line with the reporting from realestate.co.nz which has shown in their Property Report for April 2010 that listings fell by 15% to 12,225 from last month and from the same time last year increased by 17%.

With the Budget announcement on 20th May 2010 we are expecting that there is a tightening on investment property but this will be balanced by favourable first home incentives together with an easing of the monetary policy, which will allow banks more discretion at the time of lending.

The sales figures released by the NZ Real Estate Institute for February 2010 showed that 5,029 properties were sold during the month.  This figure was the lowest for February sales reported since data began being taken in 1992.  In comparison to the February sales in 2009 it was a further decline of 3.8%.  These numbers were not consistent with the Ray White group which showed February sales increased by 9.7% in comparison to the previous 12 months. 

There may be two factors which play a part in the above differences that being the increased marketshare that the Ray White has shown in the past 12 months together with the questions of the potential accuracy of the NZ Real Estate Institute statistics.  February traditionally is one of the stronger months for sales and for our group it has been the third or fourth most active month for sales in the year.  Beyond the actual sales volume number, controlled listings increased substantially by 41% on the previous 12 months.  The New Zealand Property Report released by realestate.co.nz for February showed that there was a 5000 property increase – 33% in listings across their website during February. 

In addition to this the Real Estate Institute have produced their seasonally adjusted sales figures which shows sales have fallen to an 18 year low with the total sales being 53,540.

The Ray White group see the continued polarisation from an industry point of view with these continued figures halting any potential revenue increase for individual agencies.  Marketshare and dominance of property sales will be important to the vendors as they choose their agency in potentially more challenging market conditions.  The Ray White group are proud to be able to offer to vendors real time market reports for every area across New Zealand.  These reports detail the numbers of sales, turnover, days on market, and price differences.  This can be also provided and split into housing and units.  These are available from the 132 Ray White offices across New Zealand.

Ray White welcomes the new Real Estate Agents Act together  with the new Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA) that aims to provide greater transparency and professionalism in the industry and more protection for consumers involved in residential and commercial real estate transactions.

Under the new Act, anyone who is carrying out, or wants to carry out, “real estate agency work” must be individually licensed by the REAA as an agent, branch manager or salesperson, unless specifically exempted. “Real estate agency work” is defined in the new Act as any work done or services provided, in trade, on behalf of another person for the purpose of bringing about a transaction. “Transaction” is defined widely as the sale, purchase, or other disposal or acquisition of (i) a freehold estate or interest in land, (ii) a leasehold interest in land; (iii) a licence that is registrable under Land Transfer Act 1952 (LTA); (iv) an occupation right agreement within the meaning of the Retirement Villages Act 2003; or (v) any business (either with or without any interest in land).

Licensing permits:

agents to carry out real estate agency work on his or her own account (whether in partnership or otherwise);

branch managers to carry out real estate agency work for or on behalf of an agent; and

salespersons to carry out real estate agency work for or on behalf of an agent, provided the salesperson is supervised by an agent or a branch manager when carrying out any real estate agency work.

The new Act will extend to people carrying out the sale and purchase of businesses on behalf of others (business brokers),although this will not apply to the sale and purchase of shares unless the shares entitle the holder to a licence that is registrable under the LTA.  There are 2 approved guides for consumers New Zealand Residential Property Agency Agreements Guide and the New Zealand Residential Property Sale and Purchase Agreements Guide.

At the real estate agent’s branch office, branch managers are now an option rather than a requirement, but any person assisting an agent with real estate agency work is likely to need a licence, at least as a salesperson, and the element of proper supervision and management required for all salespersons must be met either by an agent or a branch manager.

Additional changes

Some further key changes under the new Act and related regulations include:

New regulatory body. The independent REAA has been established to replace the role previously performed by the industry’s Real Estate Agents Licensing Board. The REAA is responsible for licensing, complaints, disciplinary action for unsatisfactory conduct, industry standards (including the newly issued Professional Conduct and Client Care Rules 2009) and consumer information.

Improved disclosure obligations. Real estate agents have additional legal responsibilities, including obligations to provide certain information to consumers. This information includes approved guide publications, new requirements to disclose conflicts of interest and also disclosure by the agent of the source of, and estimate amount of, all rebates, discounts or commissions that the agent will receive.

New rules on agency agreements. A client of a real estate agent must be given a copy of the agency agreement within 48 hours after signing it. Sole agency agreements have a cooling off period until 5pm on the working day following signing, allowing time for the client to cancel the contract. However, if work undertaken on a transaction during the cooling off period enables the conclusion of a contact, that contract will be binding.

Public register. There will be a public register of every person licensed under the Act which will include a record of whether a licensee has been subject to disciplinary action in the last three years.

No compulsory REINZ membership. Membership of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand is no longer compulsory for agents.

New complaints and disciplinary processes. New complaints and disciplinary processes have been introduced, including a new Real Estate Disciplinary Tribunal, administered by the Ministry of Justice, to deal with more serious complaints of unsatisfactory conduct or misconduct by any person (or officer of a company) licensed (or formerly licensed) under the Act. Under the new system, licensees can face a fine of up to $10,000 or, in the case of a company, $20,000 for complaints bought against them and for serious misconduct complaints heard by the Tribunal, individuals can be fined up to $15,000, or $30,000 in the case of companies. Agents can also be ordered to pay up to $100,000 in compensation to the complainant or have their licence cancelled or suspended. Under the old regime, most complaints were dealt with at REINZ sub-committee level, which meant that decisions about disciplinary action were made by fellow real estate agents, and $750 was the maximum imposable fine.

There has been a degree of confidence returned to the residential real estate market as indicated by April sales figures released today by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

Institute president, Mike Elford, said the figures reinforce a certain level of stability in relation to price and turnover, and are pleasing particularly as April is traditionally a slower month due to school holidays and seasonal adjustments.

Turnover of housing continues to strengthen from last year’s figures although slightly down in April 2009 compared with March totals.

“The figures are not hugely significant, but enough to generate a degree of optimism about the way forward from here,” Mr Elford says.

The total number of homes sold nationwide in April (6,210) is down on the March 2009 figure of 6,694 but still well up on the February total: 5,228. This compares with 4,450 in April 2008 which is a pleasing trend, Mr Elford said.

 Turnover continues to be strong in Auckland where 2,081 properties changed hands in April compared with 1,350 in April 2008. Manawatu/Wanganui and Taranaki both saw a rise in the number of sales from March 2009 to April 2009: 283 to 322 and 166 to 188 respectively.

The median price for homes across New Zealand for April 2009 continues the slow steady growth recorded over the past few months. February’s $330,000 median figure rose to $335,000 in March and again to $340,000 in April. This compares with the April figure from 2008 of $345,000, which is a percentage drop nationally of 1.44 per cent. Read the rest of this entry »