REINZ Media Advisory                                                                                            14 July 2010

ROSANNE MEO TO CHAIR NEW REINZ BOARD

Prominent public and private company director Rosanne Meo OBE is the new chairman of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

As part of a restructuring to achieve a more modern and professional governance model, the Institute has appointed two independents from outside the industry to its Board of Directors and one has become the chairman.

‘The adoption of this new governance structure is a signal that the Institute is changing and moving forward and we hand over the reins to the new Board with confidence’ says outgoing REINZ National President Peter McDonald.

Auckland-based Rosanne Meo has worked as a company director for almost 20 years, and chaired a range of public and private companies, and state-owned enterprise boards in New Zealand and in Australia as well as community organisations, particularly in the arts sector.

She is currently Chair of the Briscoes Group, the Auckland Philharmonia and AMP NZ Services Limited, and a trustee of the Kelliher Trust and South Auckland Health Foundation.

The other appointed independent director is Dr Richard Janes of Wellington, a professional company director whose considerable experience includes wide involvements in the agricultural and export industries. As well as various company directorships he is currently a director of the NZ Lotteries Commission and Chair of the Electricity & Gas Complaints Commission

In accordance with the new governance structure two members of the real estate industry with extensive high level management experience have also been appointed directors. Managing Director of Livingstone Realty Ltd in Canterbury, David Rankin is chair of the Real Estate Network Limited, a co-operative company comprising most of the residential real estate firms active in Christchurch.

The other appointed director is Bryan Thomson. Starting out as a sales consultant nearly 20 years ago he was CEO of Harcourts New Zealand for eight years and is now Head of Real Estate Operations for Harcourts Australasia.

Under the new structure the REINZ Board also comprises five Regional Directors elected for the 2010 – 2012 period. They are: Jean Smith, Auckland; Philip Searle, Gisborne; Euon Murrell, Wellington; Paul Hedwig, Nelson; Liz Nidd, Dunedin.

Hayden has considerable experience in real estate, having held various roles within Bayleys over a number of years, and I am personally delighted that the strength of our company and culture has attracted an individual of his calibre to Harcourts, where he will work alongside Chief Operating Officer Jo Clifford and myself to continue to strengthen our group’s dominance in New Zealand.

Following many years success in sales, auctioneering and management in other industries, Hayden commenced his real estate career as a commercial/industrial sales consultant.  He then progressed onto roles including auctioneer, trainer, senior manager, franchise owner and most recently he has been Bayleys’ National Auction Manager and a member of their senior management team.

In addition to his real estate knowledge and skills, Hayden has exceptional communication and presentation skills, a passion for people and for our industry, a considerable network, an established national profile and a solid level of media experience, all of which are keys to success in this important leadership role within New Zealand’s largest real estate group.

A positive and energetic real estate professional Hayden will be a great addition to the Harcourts New Zealand team, which he will officially join in mid-June.

As a result, I am delighted to advise that Jo Clifford has been appointed to the newly created role of Chief Operations Officer for Harcourts New Zealand.

In more than 25 years with Harcourts Jo has gained considerable experience within Harcourts in a variety of roles and her knowledge, skills, dedication and commitment make her a major asset to our group.

A shareholder and for the past eight years holding the title of General Manager of Harcourts New Zealand, the new role incorporates some additional responsibility while the title better reflects the fact that she operates alongside the CEO of Harcourts New Zealand, with both reporting to the Board of Harcourts New Zealand.

Speaking of the NZ CEO role, today we have commenced an extensive search for an outstanding individual to fulfill this position within Harcourts New Zealand, which is the largest real estate group in the country and a key part of Harcourts’ growing global network.

For this vital role we are looking for someone with exceptional skills and a strong track record of success, including at senior management level within the real estate industry.

Working with Jo, Harcourts New Zealand’s corporate staff and myself, the new NZ CEO will be part of a formidable team focused on Harcourts achieving even better results in New Zealand.

With plans progressing for the introduction of our new joint venture commercial property business, NAI Harcourts, in New Zealand and our national conference and national awards night coming up in a few weeks it’s certainly exciting times for Harcourts New Zealand!

In this newly-created position on the Harcourts International leadership team my responsibility will be the operation, growth and success of Harcourts in New Zealand, Fiji and also Australia, which offers a great new challenge for me within our group and the industry.

Working directly with the CEOs of New Zealand and the Australian states, my focus is to ensure that Harcourts continues to increase its dominance in New Zealand, where our powerful brand was established in 1888, and that we continue to grow both our market coverage and market share throughout Australia.

This exciting opportunity follows a decision by Harcourts Executive Director Paul Wright to move into the role of Chairman of the Harcourts International board, after 25 years hands-on helping to lead the growth of Harcourts’ franchise model internationally.

His decision led to the review of the structure of the Harcourts International leadership team to ensure that we had the structure required to achieve Harcourts’ key strategic plan goals:

* continued growth in the key markets of New Zealand and Australia,
* continued growth in our other existing markets – Fiji, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana and China (including Hong Kong)
* establishing the Harcourts’ franchise model in an additional 16 countries, with a target of having a total of 2500 offices in 25 countries by 2014.

That review led to the creation of this new role to focus on New Zealand, Australia and Fiji – freeing up the other members of the Harcourts International leadership team to increase their focus on achieving the goal of growing Harcourts’ international presence and developing the very best real estate system and resources anywhere in this industry.

Our aim is for Harcourts to be the number one real estate brand in the world.  It’s an exciting journey and one I’m thrilled to be part of!

Franchise Development Manager

Based in Auckland, this is an exciting role that reports directly to the CEO and GM of Harcourts New Zealand. While real estate experience is an advantage, it’s not essential, as we understand the unique skills required in this position can stem from a range of backgrounds. Your key focus and accountability will be the recruitment of experienced real estate performers and existing offices to our network within the Auckland marketplace. You’ll be rewarded with an attractive salary and incentive package.

Business Development Manager

The position is based in Auckland and will cover the northern and central North Island. It’s an exciting opportunity to deliver vital support through our network in these locations, with a suitably generous financial package offered. You will be working alongside our franchise owners and managers to drive performance within your area of responsibility. Real estate experience at management or business ownership level is preferred.

All queries treated in the strictest of confidence.

Please contact Bryan Thomson, CEO Harcourts New Zealand for further information  on b.thomson@harcourts.co.nz

* ACNielsen March 2009

Harcourts’ August figures show spring came early to much of the New Zealand real estate market, especially in our Northern region which includes the country’s largest city, Auckland.

According to our final, audited figures for August 2009 Harcourts’ sales consultants completed a national average of approximately 47% more written sales last month than in  August 2008, with a total of 2030 written sales making it the second highest amount since November 2007.

The largest increase occurred in Harcourts’ Northern region where the volume of written sales last month was a significant 78% ahead of August 2008.  In addition the average sale price was 11% ahead of the same month last year.

In three of Harcourts’ other regions there was also an increase in written sales last month when compared with August 2008, with our South Island Provincial region being the only exception.

Meanwhile, more properties came onto the market last month than in August 2008 but the total volume of property on hand remains limited and in some regions the slow rural market is continuing to impact on average sale prices.

While confidence in the market appears to have returned we have to be mindful of the fact that the numbers we are seeing this year are being compared to the historically low numbers of 2008.  If you look further back in time our national sales numbers remain 25% below the peak of August 2005.

So, while the market is more positive and active and the lower number of listings we have seen over winter has created competition and helped to stabilise prices in many locations it’s too soon to be talking about another “housing market boom”.

Notwithstanding that, serious buyers are taking action now while asking prices and mortgage interest rates are more attractive and smart sellers are seizing the opportunity to list their property before more stock comes onto the market and balances out the current situation.

A full breakdown of regional statistics for our group is available on the Harcourts Newsroom.

Our offices completed 38% more written transactions during August 2009 than August 2008 with the highlights being the Northern Region of the North Island, (Pukekohe north) being up 69% and the Central North Island up 56%.

Christchurch also featured with a strong 48% growth while the Lower North Island was more subdued at 17% ahead.

The South Island provincial areas continue to be, in general, left out of the increase in volume with their numbers at similar levels to 2008.

These variations between regions often reflect a number of influencing factors including how dramatically impacted each area was during the downturn and also local economic factors, such as the rural economy and tourism as two obvious examples.

When we judge August 09 against July 09 see all markets relatively stable in regard to activity apart from the Northern region where sales numbers are ahead by 12%. This is a combination of both a more active market here in our largest city and, we believe, strong market share growth for our team in Auckland.

As per usual there are plenty of opinions available as to what will happen in the future in regard to price levels and number of sales, the reality is most of these predictions come from individuals with agendas, hidden or otherwise. We prefer to report facts as to what is actually happening right now so if you are a buyer, seller or commentator we hope these early statistics are useful to you.

A full audited report will be available through this blog and also on the Harcourts newsroom on approximately September 14th

In addition Alistair Helm from www.realestate.co.nz has a comprehensive full market report available on his blog, Unconditional, well worth a read!

According to the latest statistics from Nielsen Online Market Intelligence our www.harcourts.co.nz website received 175,453 unique visitors in July.

This was a record for us and also once again confirms our site as the most visited real estate company website in the country – an impressive 44% ahead of our nearest rival.

The latest website statistics are a good “lead indicator”, given online searching is now said to be the first point of entry into the market for most property buyers.

For the past few months we have been reporting a good volume of sales when compared with last year and these latest website statistics suggest that those volumes may lift further in spring.

These statistics also back up the anecdotal feedback from Harcourts business owners and sales consultants around the country who are reporting that confidence in the real estate market appears to have returned and that this is seeing more buyer enquiry and sales.

According to the latest statistics released by Nielsen Online, Harcourts is the most visited real estate brand website in the country and ranks third overall behind the two major real estate portals which include www.realestate.co.nz where Harcourts listing are also featured.

 In addition, according to a nationwide survey of homeowners by The Nielsen Company, Harcourts has the highest awareness and is the most preferred real estate brand in the country.

What raised this thought in my mind is the way I book my flights. Be it right or wrong I avoid, if I can, flying on any aircraft other than a Boeing. Given the high profile tragedy recently in France involving an Airbus and my dislike of flying I choose to fly Boeing if at all possible.

Now I know Airbus are a great company and their planes are as highly tested as any but the simple fact is  that that brand has been involved in a number of incidents over recent times that have made me less confident in their product so I try to avoid using them.

I think a lot of this is however based on the simple fact that there have been no answers provided as to what actually happened and what the company is doing to assure the public that they manufacture a product that is as safe as any designed and produced.

This reinforces to me that in managing our brand perception it is as much about how we react to problems and tough issues as it is about avoiding them occurring in the first place.

I think the other massive issue is who brands chose to be associated with.

Right now I am sitting on an Airbus A320, not by choice but by necessity. Why would I do this given what I have written above? It’s pretty simple really. I trust Air New Zealand totally and seeing the Koru on the tail of the plane and the uniforms of the crew gives me great confidence, that’s what I call great brand perception and I hope that’s the way our clients view us.

The comparative increase in buyer demand and activity is particularly noticeable in those areas hardest hit by the slowdown we experienced last year, with an average increase in the volume of written sales in May 2009 of nearly 40% when compared to May 2008, including 43% lifts in Harcourts’ Northern and Christchurch regions and a 76% increase in Harcourts’ Central region.

The marked improvement in the volume of written sales in May when compared with the same month the previous year follows the trend reported in March 2009 (30.4% increase on March 2008) and April 2009 (44% increase on April 2008).

In terms of listings, the figures we report show that across the country there were fewer new listings last month than in May 2009 and that the average written sale price in all but one region (Northern) was down on May 2008.

In our view attractive lending rates, positive immigration statistics and some positive rumblings internationally have all contributed to the increased activity from buyers.  Of equal stimulus to the domestic property market is that most sellers are now fully conversant with the realities of the current market and are entering negotiations with realistic expectations.

Predicting what may or may not occur over coming months in the New Zealand real estate market is a favourite national pastime, and always attracts a lot of comment when views are publicised.

As far as Harcourts is concerned, given the fundamentals that are in play and driving our market right now, we see no reason for today’s solid real estate market not to continue.

As long as sellers understand the market conditions and have realistic expectations they can expect to achieve good results.  Equally, buyers who do their homework and enter negotiations positively and with realistic expectations too can also look forward to securing their next property at today’s attractive levels.

Full Regional breakdowns can be viewed in the Harcourts  newsroom.