Posts Tagged ‘new zealand real estate’

Three months ago Bob Mountfort and Neil Baker took the bold step of deciding to re-locate their business in Howick to a new central location which in capacity is three times the size of their previous location. The Howick shopping area has a village feel about it and the new Ray White office is well positioned, with a high pedestrian count and backing onto a major car park area.  The premises have a wide frontage in which over 70 properties can be displayed in an A2 format.  Inside the office there are interview areas for rentals and sales together with a boardroom area that will be used for seminars and auction presentations. In speaking with Neil and Bob, they commented how proud they were of the new premises and while it is a substantial commitment to their agency business, they believe that their current market share of 24.6% should continue to increase so they effectively become the market leaders through the Eastern Beaches area.  The Howick office once again becomes a flagship business, not only for the Mountfort Group, but also for the industry throughout East Auckland.

Simon and Glynn Pritchett, husband and wife team at the Kohimarama office, manned a Ray White stand in Hall 9 at the Auckland Home Show which ran from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 13th September. Simon, a well known interior designer, has had an association with the show for over 18 years, and saw this as an ideal opportunity to not only promote his real estate partnership, but Ray White Kohimarama and the greater Ray White Group, including Loan Market. Up to 55,000 people attend this show annually and it is a great promotional opportunity for Simon and Glynn and to also promote a cross section of the office’s listings and services. Simon expected to make some good listing and buyer contacts and also to make a number of referrals to other offices as a result of enquiry.

Brent Sterm sold his first auction at 10 Martin Ave in Wakefield last Sunday. The street was clustered with cars, balloons were hanging from every letter box, and the profile for Grant Chaney and Ray White was huge. Prior to the main event a pamper package to Hanmer Springs Heritage Hotel and Hot Springs was auctioned with all proceeds going to the local primary school. Over 80 people attended the Auction for Brent Sturm’s first call as Auctioneer (Richmond Office Principle). Competition and bidding for the property was intense and it sold under the hammer. The Richmond, Stoke and Mapua offices have embraced the Auction culture and are currently running a Spring Auction Campaign for in-room Auctions on the 10th of September. Over the past 4 weeks the group have experienced fantastic results with their Auctions, with many property’s selling under the hammer. In fact, Mapua held 14 Auctions in one night. Last month the Top of the South recorded a 108% increase in sales turnover, owners Brent Sturm, Christine Cook and Mike Harvey attribute this to their Auction marketing.

As Christchurch continues their fortnightly Auction Gala’s, the success rate has hit an all time high. Four weeks ago 7 out of 9 auctions sold under the hammer – an impressive result in anyone’s eyes. This week this was improved with a result of 8 out of 10, with the last 2 remaining properties going under offer immediately after the auction proceedings. A strong commitment to be masters at this method of sale has been the absolute key to this success. Future vendors attending the Gala Auction were certainly impressed with the 80% success rate under the hammer.

On behalf of the Ray White Group, we are proud to release our Signature Statement campaign, which commences on 5th September 2009 and runs until 25th of September 2009.  

The Signature Statement campaign is a three – four week window of opportunity for those who are currently selling their property with Ray White.  There are several marketing mediums available  through our NZ group members with specially negotiated media and online rates. The campaign will be undertaken through national, regional and local media together with online marketing.

Our main partners include APN Media, ACP Media and Fairfax.  It gives the opportunity to market your property through media which includes the New Zealand Herald, Christchurch Press, Property Press and Suburban News.  The rates are specific to Ray White clients and in most instances have been discounted based on the our media buying power as a group of 130 offices. 

In regards to our online position, Trade Me Property have made available a special offer for vendors to list in their Feature category.  ABC Photoboards, Maxum and Orion Signs are also part of the Signature Campaign, offering great value on signage and associated marketing.

The current market conditions see increased buyer activity and while we believe that it is a good time to be selling your property, the marketing that accompanies the potential sale is considered even more important. 

We hope that the opportunity to market your property will be asisted through one of Ray White New Zealand 130 offices and the special signature campaign.

For more details please contact Stephanie Watson at Ray White New Zealand on 09 377 5069 or any of our business owners.

We achieved our best July in four years, with our trading being up 37% on last year.  Our listing stock was also in positive territory, with auctions increasing by 45% and marketing up 24%.  Our Ponsonby office achieved the best sales turnover in the NZ group.  The team from Manukau also had an outstanding month coming in at Number 2.  The Palmerston North office achieved third podition, with Milford being the top office on the North Shore.  Mt Albert and Botany Town Centre were positioned at number 4 and 5 across NZ.  Other offices to have top performances within their zone included Whangarei, Hamilton City, Colombo Street in Canterbury and Queenstown.  A special mention to our Mapua office who sold just on $5 million worth of property, with the zone increasing by over 100% on last year’s results.

The Reserve Bank Governor, Alan Bollard, lsat week kept the OCR rate unchanged at 2.5%. The Reserve Bank statement made it clear that the OCR level will remain at 2.5% or lower until the latter part of 2010. There was also an indication that if the New Zealand dollar and wholesale interest rates remained at high levels, the OCR would be expected to be lowered over the next quarter. There was also a message in there for the property and finance markets. With average pricing beginning to increase across New Zealand, the indication was to re-enforce the housing market but to ensure that affordability remained for all New Zealanders and that banks continue to have enough liquidity to allow borrowing at a level which continues to keep the market flowing. He went onto say the economic outlook remains weak however New Zealand is slightly sheltered from the overall global recession through its exports and its partnership with Australia. The graph shows since July 2008 that interest rates have reduced from 8.5% to 2.5% and potentially expected to go lower.

Source ASB Economic Update

John Pope started in the Real Estate industry 20 years ago, as at the 13th of July.  He started in the Tauranga office of Matthewson Real Estate Ltd, and has worked there ever since, only changing over to the current Matthewson Real Estate Ltd Company at Bayfair, under the Branch Manager of Steve Fagan, when that office opened in October 2008. He is a foundation member of Ray White, and has won numerous national awards over this time. One that does stick in his memory is winning a week on Brian White’s boat, sailing around the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of Australia as a prize for the most sales in the country. John recently shouted a lovely morning tea in the Bayfair office to celebrate his 20 years with Ray White.

The team at Ray White Whakatane held a fund-raising event at Cinema 5 recently to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Auckland. Local businesses literally came to the party with pre-movie nibbles supplied by McDonalds, New World and Dominos. Over 90 people attended showing community spirit is alive and kicking in Whakatane with a number of people turning up to show their support for RMHA by coming along to mix n’ mingle and watch the latest comedy released “The Hangover”. Over 35 prizes were donated by local businesses for the lucky draws taking place before the movie.  The feature prize was a two night accommodation package donated by City Life Hotel, Auckland offering an executive room with breakfasts and beverage vouchers with a value of $498. We were greatly assisted with our coverage for the event by our local newspaper ‘The Beacon’ and radio station 1XX donating advertising and air time. The end result was a fantastic night out with everybody attending finding out a bit more about RMHA and $1,250.10 being raised and donated to Ronald McDonald House Auckland. The night could not have been possible without support of generous sponsorship and attendance by everybody coming out on a very cold winter night.      

Ray White New Zealand are pleased to announce that a new franchise office has now opened in the Taranaki region. 

The Ray White Taranaki office will be under the guidance of well known real estate identity, Mark Ferguson, as principal officer together with his partner Rachel Culpan and the sales team.  Mark has built his real estate career over the past 15 years with management positions held with Ray White and also Harcourts.  In addition to that, Mark has been a successful franchisee of a multi-office operation in the Taranaki district. 

The Taranaki area is home to a population of 107,000. The average sale price for property in New Plymouth was $328,000 with 203 property sales being transacted last month.  There is a mixture of properties, mainly owner occupied, however there is an increasing investment market as Taranaki has a high level of tourism and also self developed industries such as oil and dairy farming.  The region relies on its natural and physical resources for its social and economic well-being. Over 2100 dairy herds operate in the region and produce almost 20% of New Zealand’s total milk solids. Sheep and beef farming is largely confined to the hill country along with exotic forest plantations and indigenous forest cover. Oil and gas reserves, including Kapuni and the larger Offshore Maui gas field, and the associated processing, distribution and export of hydrocarbons also contribute to the regional economy.

For the Ray White group this is the 130th office in New Zealand and it gives us great pleasure to be able to announce this new office in Taranaki.  It comes shortly after the opening of our new Paraparaumu office on the Kapiti Coast.  The group continues to extend and grow its marketshare in New Zealand with recent results showing that Ray White now sells 1 in 5 properties across Auckland and Canterbury which is a record for our company.

Mark and his team carefully considered their choice of brand to commence their new agency and saw Ray White as a leader, not only in brand recognition but also in the services that the franchise offers by way of technology and marketing.  This in turn enables vendors to list their property with confidence that the group’s marketing position enables buyers to view property right across the international network of Ray White.

To view Taranaki Property for Sale or to talk to a Ray White Real Estate Agent, visit Ray White New Zealand .