Another record! $3.6billion! But this time just pipping our previous best in October. Already listing volumes for the early part of 2015 are at record levels.
One feature of our November results was the growing inconsistency across our markets. Hard to keep up with the Sydney momentum. At year’s end the Australian community has been confronted with projections of declining industries. It seemed to come on so unexpectedly.
November saw a continuation of the fierce competition amongst lenders for customers. We saw a number of lenders offering special discounts off their standard rates and three-year fixed rates for the period leading up to Christmas. In Australia, Loan Market lodged $1billion worth of mortgages for the month and across Australia and New Zealand settled $1.3billion.
Australia’s Free Trade Agreement with China should produce a welcome boost to confidence in the rural real estate sector. This is tipped to be as a result of joint ventures, leaseholds and processing opportunities in Australia. The G20 summit improved Brisbane’s standing within the Chinese community.
Even with over 85 hectares of Sydney industrial land being rezoned to residential in the past three years, the Sydney residential development site market continues to defy previous records.
But this activity is now far broader than just Sydney and Melbourne. Canberra and Brisbane in particular, have experienced new price levels on the back of increased competition from local and international developers seeking to capitalise on demand from apartment investors.
What’s new at Ray White
Planning for 2015 is well advanced. For the first time since our centenary a group-wide conference will be held on the Gold Coast under the title of Connect.
There are so many different skill sets in our group, the potential for each of our members to leverage these broader services into their own careers and interaction with their clients has never been as powerful. Never as valuable!
Once again we have had blockbuster performances from some brilliantly structured businesses. These businesses are increasingly becoming pre-eminent within our network. For example, in New Zealand our top ten performing offices are writing 50 per cent of turnover. These patterns are also emerging elsewhere in our network.
Invariably, these offices are offering comprehensive marketing packages to their vendors resulting in exceptional sales results. In virtually every case, these offices are praising the response they get from press advertising in association with their online strategy. Several of our businesses are reporting that, with good press advertising as part of their marketing campaigns, they are trebling the number of visitors at inspections.
New office openings: in our rural division - Ray White Dorrigo and Ray White Bingara - have opened. In New South Wales we have residential offices opening this month in Woodford, Budgewoi, St Ives and Bringelly. In New Zealand, a significant merger has occurred between Ray White Invercargill and the local First National.
We are very excited to announce that Ash Hira has joined Bruce Whillans' team at Commercial Auckland. Recognised as the industry leader in New Zealand retail real estate and with over 25 years’ experience, Ash brings a whole new dimension to Bruce's high calibre team.
We’re seeing more and more of our agents pursue news coverage for their listings. Last month Ray White featured in more news articles than ever - nearly 2000 in Australia for the month.
Finally, we saw the launch of Ray White Live Online Auctions last month in Queensland. Already proving a great success in the first two weeks of running, there were multiple registered bidders. Not only a bidding tool, it has also proved invaluable in bringing people together.
“Beau Vale”, a rural lifestyle property of 148 acres, sold recently for $1,150,000. Interestingly the vendors children, the next generation of the original owners, who reside in various areas within Queensland all watched the auction in its entirety online – the very first property Ray White has ever auctioned with online bidding.
A Little Ray of Giving, our community giveback campaign, is currently running across Australia and New Zealand with nearly 300 offices collecting gifts for local children in need.
