The White Paper - November 2018

WE approached November with a mix of anticipation and trepidation and we certainly saw a lot of marquee listings, big sales and excellent auction events. Our November headline sales results came in at $3.87B, some 16 per cent lower than the all-time boom of 2017.

Although the weaker housing market conditions in Sydney and Melbourne are under the spotlight, conditions across the Australian housing market are increasingly diverse. While there’s no doubt that the core east coast markets have eased, one of our biggest offices in the whole group has just had their best November ever. The unstoppable team at Ray White Double Bay - in the affluent eastern suburbs of Sydney - has just smashed the November sales record for our 1000-office strong leading network with a whopping $151M in unconditional sales. The 25-strong sales team converted 38 sales with an average sale price of $3.96M.

Ray White Double Bay managing director Elliott Placks said he was thrilled the premier Australian agency could continue to sail strong in light winds and deliver results for their vendors. November has traditionally delivered our best sales results as there was “an accountability deadline” at the end of it with Christmas looming but as Elliott says this is a needs based market - and people’s needs plus emotion - can create sales in any market.

Congratulations to Craig Pontey and Elliott Placks for selling the highest sale of the month - this Vaucluse trophy home - for approximately $30M.

But despite these bright pockets, transactions are down broadly and with less market activity, advertised listings have surged higher, so buyers with ample choice and time on their hands to negotiate on price. There is certainly not the same urgency in the market and of course, finance is hard to access.

Still our New Zealand network produced an outstanding month to be up by more than 15 per cent to produce $948M in unconditional sales. This was their best month of sales for 2018 which was up by 28 per cent on the same time last year. While the top businesses continue to have outstanding results it was some of the regional areas throughout New Zealand where we saw 11 personal-best results. Listings continue at a high volume which is a continuance of last month. The low-interest rates together with the increasingly stronger economy is giving buyers confidence in the marketplace.

We had a huge month of auctions across the group, with more than 73,000 people in attendance across 1625 auctions conducted and our members cleared 43 per cent under the hammer.

The top residential auction sale of the month was conducted by none other than Elliott Placks and our members had some incredible individual results across the network.

Our Craigieburn office in Melbourne continues to lead the way as the top auction office with an enviable 80 per cent clearance rate in November.

There’s never been a more important time to focus on our customer’s experience with is and with that in mind we sent over 9500 surveys to our buyers and sellers in November. We received close to 3000 10/10s which is great.

With everyone fixated on the Royal Commission into Finance it’s great to see our partners at Loan Market produce a solid November - largely consistent with October trading conditions with $1.23B lodgements, $918M approvals and $771M in settlements.

It was great is to see some many new faces join our business and many of our business owners expand into new areas last month.

It's great to see Ray White now dominates the Riverina region after Lucas Myers and Cassie Sheahan expanded their business and will rebrand a very successful existing real estate in Junee that’s been owned by Rob and Jen Barrett who are retiring after more than 25 years. Mr Myers said the expansion ambition had always been a goal when they opened their Ray White office in Wagga Wagga in 2011. “With Wagga, Junee and Coolamon all within a 30 minute triangle, it’s always been our long term plan to have offices in all three locations. We opened our Coolamon agency earlier this year and the response has been fantastic,” Mr Myers said. Ray White NSW CEO Stephen Nell said it was a natural progression for the tight-knit team to expand their business.

On the Sunshine Coast, Ray White Sippy Downs owner Michael Stack has expanded his team and set up an office in Nambour. After months of already successfully transacting in this area, he decided that opening a premises was an important next step for both his staff and clients. “We have already built up a wonderful client base in Nambour, and the time has come to invest in a brick and mortar office” Mr Stack said. This is the second office for Mr Stack, who has worked in real estate for 15 years both locally on the Sunshine Coast and in Central Queensland, before coming on as Sales Manager at Ray White Sippy Downs, and buying the business in 2017.

A powerhouse team of property development professionals have made a strategic real estate move into the booming eastern Sydney suburb of Mascot. The team behind the brand new office come from a range of different backgrounds and industries, all having shared a common goal of opening a Ray White office in an up and coming area. Yan Chen, Ray White Mascot Principal, has a wealth of experience in the real estate development industry and has worked in various operational management roles since moving to Australia in 2014. “We see huge potential in Mascot and its surrounds,” Ms Chen said.

FOUR years after establishing their real estate business in nearby Ashmore, Darren and Sandy Davey are excited to be opening the doors of their Ray White business in Labrador. The Davey’s business is truly a family business, with their daughter Meagan also part of their team. The family’s connections to the Gold Coast spans five generations and they have very strong personal ties to the Labrador area.

And in Shailer Park in Brisbane, there's a new leader behind the long time family-owned business. Rebecca Hoswell, new Principal of Ray White Shailer Park, has a wealth of experience in the Property Management sector and has worked within the business as head of the department for the last seven years. “I am really looking forward to growing and improving the business and team substantially over the coming months,” Ms Hoswell said. Ms Hoswell has built a reputation for maintaining exceptionally high standards in her Property Management team and will be bringing this energy to the rest of the business.

So with a change of government likely in the new year plus a raft of changes expected in the wake of the banking royal commission, it’s time to reflect of some of the great things that happened in 2018.

My favourite few days of the whole year was in August at Connect 2018, seeing 3000 of our members together on the Gold Coast and seeing how much energy and potential there is on our company was the highlight for me. As this is our final edition for the year, I hope you all have a wonderful break over the Christmas period and I look forward to seeing you in 2019.

Thanks, I’m Dan White.