How does your usual day look?
I wake at 4.45am and go to my local F45 gym for a workout, then have a coffee and read the papers before heading home to see my wife and two daughters before heading to work.
My workday is a mix of client meetings, lots of phone calls, site inspections, emails and submissions. I try and structure my day by focusing my mornings on active campaigns/deals and my afternoons on new business generation. I then head home for dinner with the family and some time with my wife after getting the kids to bed. Rinse, sleep, repeat!
How did you start your career in commercial real estate?
After secondary school, I was competing internationally at an elite level in Triathlon and also studied business at uni with majors in Finance and Marketing. When I stopped competing in triathlons and settled back into Brisbane, I set about starting a career in either commercial real estate or finance and started networking. My grandfather played rugby union for Australia alongside Bill McLean, the uncle of Paul McLean (former Wallaby and former Australian CEO of Savills). Paul gave me my start in commercial real estate at Savills in 2003 as an Executive in the Metropolitan Sales and Leasing Team.
What do you enjoy most about working at Ray White Commercial? What makes RWC different?
Having known Dan White for many years, I was attracted to Ray White Commercial and the broader Ray White business due to its core values, culture, and the unique opportunity it offers people to partner and grow a successful business together.
What are your go-to property marketing methods that you present to your clients?
Typically I recommend to clients an international Expressions of Interest campaign with public marketing structured around the following priorities:
- Consistent messaging and public marketing
- A clearly defined process with strict milestone dates to generate maximum competitive tension
- Direct promotion to domestic and offshore buyers to ensure complete global coverage and penetration
- Mitigation of risks during the sale process via thorough preparation and planning
- Maximisation of price and terms
Conduct a very structured, intense and thorough 3-phase sales process, involving preparation, marketing and execution. The process involves clear action items and milestones to ensure that the properties are presented and promoted in the best possible way and in a timely manner.
Tell me about a unique success story?
In 2017 I was appointed exclusively to sell 32 Turbot Street Brisbane (Santos Place) on behalf of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), a Malaysian government pension fund. Successfully negotiated the sale of the property for $370 million to Singaporean Government Investment Corporation (GIC) represented by Charter Hall.
Do you auction?
I really do like auction as a method of sale and am curious to learn more about this method which has already begun with Mark McLeod's workshop series. However, auctions are very rarely used as a method of sale in my market segment and typically are not appropriate given the nature of the transactions.
What’s the one thing you know now, that you wish you knew when you first started out?
Sometimes you have to slow down in order to speed up.
What is your outlook for the capital investment market in Brisbane over the next 12 months?
Capital inflows to commercial real estate are increasing globally due to record low government bond yields around the world. Australia is seen as a very attractive investment destination within the Asia Pacific region due to low sovereign risk, political stability, strong relative economic growth and proximity to India and China, use of the Torrens title system, and the highly transparent nature of the market.
The Brisbane commercial office market has seen increasing investment demand over recent years, with an improving macroeconomic backdrop, in particular, a very strong infrastructure and major project pipeline and strong population growth. Yields, relative to Sydney and Melbourne, on a risk-adjusted basis, are also very attractive to investors given the improving occupier market.
The outlook for the Brisbane commercial office market over the next 12 months is extremely positive on the investment side, and also very positive on the occupier side.
Tom Barr – Director & Head of Investment Sales
M +61 405 144 352
