Industry update
Harcourts Academy is now Australia-wide!
March 3rd, 2010
The Harcourts Academy is the first real estate company owned training provider to achieve active RTO status in every state of Australia.
Just last week Harcourts achieved RTO status in New South Wales, allowing the Harcourts Academy to become a nationwide supplier of real estate training.
Irene Green, Head of the Harcourts Academy, said the Academy had been established since 2002, providing top quality, up-to-date real estate education to hundreds of industry professionals on a monthly basis.
“We now offer 17 units of competency, including 30 specialist classroom programmes and 22 online learning programmes,” she said.
“Our online programmes are what are particularly unique to the Harcourts Academy.
“At Harcourts there is a large focus on technology, and the Academy has embraced this focus over the last year,” she said.
“We deliver our online programmes via state of the art systems created by our in-house multimedia team. Our platform includes an interactive online working area, video,…
RBA rate rise a sound decision for economic sustainability
March 4th, 2010Harcourts Managing Director Mike Green has applauded the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision to increase official rates by 0.25 per cent.
“During the last 12 months we have seen the RBA act cautiously, which allowed market growth to gain its momentum before the RBA took further action. This is a very sensible approach in my opinion,” Mr Green said.
“Harcourts has seen a steady market, with figures across the Harcourts Group in February of this year reflecting a twelve per cent increase on February 2009.
“While this percentage increase isn’t large, it’s steady, which indicates a market that is ready for a minor increase like this rise of 25 base points,” he said.
“And interest rates are still very low compared to historical numbers, so I consider a cash rate of four per cent to be extremely favourable,” he said.
“We must bear in mind the Australian economy has performed well during the last two years in…
Top realtor appointed to help Harcourts grow in Central North Island
March 2nd, 2010Focused on growth, Harcourts New Zealand has appointed successful Waikato real estate industry identity Tony Renwick as Business Development Manager for the group’s Central Region, which encompasses the Waikato, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and parts of the Central Plateau and East Coast districts.
Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says the successful realtor with 30-years’ experience has the credentials and contacts to make a big impact in Harcourts’ Central Region, where he is focused on assisting the group’s franchise owners to grow their businesses.
Tony Renwick, Harcourts' Central Region BDM
A Fellow of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, Mr Renwick (pictured right) originally started out as a sales consultant, moved into branch management and then ownership of multi-disciplinary offices in three different real estate groups, including owning and operating the No. 1 Ray White office New Zealand, which he sold in 2006.
“While Harcourts is already the largest real estate group in…
Buyers are hedging their bets in NSW in 2010
February 5th, 20102010 is bringing with it a comeback in the real estate market. Suburbs that saw the greatest drop in value over the past couple of years are really starting to come back. Overall, NSW’s property market is about to enter a year of solid growth.
In 2009, the First Home Buyer’s grant stimulated the property sector throughout the global financial crisis, encouraging many first home buyers to get into the market and take advantage of the increased incentives.
Harcourts New South Wales, CEO, Chris Stephandellis said this first home owner’s rush produced a downside.
“Due to the increased competition in the market place, there was a spike in the market, with many sales exceeding asking prices particularly in the Bathurst area,” he said.
“Now, there is a decreased amount of first home buyers in the market because of the Grant reduction in December, and the looming threat of a fourth interest rate hike when…
RBA decision bodes well for Australian property market
February 5th, 2010The Reserve Bank of Australia on Wednesday made the decision to hold an interest rate rise. This is a welcomed reprieve for the real estate industry, and will be appreciated by many families and businesses.
Due to previous rate rises, banks have increased their interest rates by several points over recent months.
Glenn Stevens Governor of Monetary and Policy Decision said since information about the early impact of these increases is still limited. The Board judged it appropriate to hold a steady setting of monetary policy for the time being.
Managing Director of Harcourts International, Mike Green, said to ensure the market is able to withstand further increases in the future, the RBA needed to make the decision they did.
“It would have been premature to count our economy strong enough to endure four rate rises in less than six months.
“This has already been reinforced by the weaker retail sales figures for December, which…
