Harcourts Announces Launch in Victorian Market

Harcourts Announces Launch in Victorian Market

New Zealand’s largest and Australia’s fastest growing real estate group, Harcourts International Ltd has announced that it has signed a joint venture agreement with one of the Australian State of Victoria’s most dynamic and leading independent real estate groups, MPRE (Mornington Peninsula Real Estate), acquiring a 50 percent share and bringing its total number of offices to just on 430.

Arguably Australia’s most sophisticated real estate market, Managing Director of Harcourts International Ltd, Mike Green, confirmed Victoria had long been a strategic target for Harcourts to further its increasingly dominant presence in Australia where it now has more than 250 offices nationwide. A key part of that strategy was to cement an alliance with a premiere and dynamic local real estate brand and while having explored several opportunities over recent months, Mike Green was pleased to announce the launch of MPRE Harcourts as of 2 February 2007.

Now 24 franchise offices and growing, MPRE was co-founded in 2000 with offices in Frankston and Mt Eliza by Brent Pullar. ‘Born and bred’ in the area, the 32 year old left secondary school just 14 years ago with the offer of a coveted place at the Australian Institute of Sport as a National Top 5 athlete in the 400m and 800m to train for the Olympics. Initially joining the real estate industry to build his savings prior to attending the Institute, Mr Pullar’s high standards and determination saw him quickly succeed and four years later aged just 22, bought his first office in Frankston, becoming Number One in marketshare within 12 months.

With a desire to further his real estate career and “really raise the bar in the industry”, Mr Pullar said the next logical step was to launch his own real estate group to focus on his philosophy of customer service excellence. With the latest office in Pakenham opening just two weeks ago, Mr Pullar confirmed he had another five offices “in the pipeline”.

Mike Green said, “Victoria has clearly been the next strategic step for our organisation as we continue to grow our market presence in Australia and work towards achieving our objective of being the number one real estate organisation in Australasia. Launching in Australia in March 1997, after 10 years virtually to the month, we now have a presence in every state in Australia.”

Mr Green added, “Our decision to form the joint venture with MPRE was based entirely on the people leading and working within MPRE – we share common values, share the same passion for our industry and for delivering the very finest service. Being involved with the very best people is the key to ensuring the organisation’s success.”

“As the acknowledged market leader in New Zealand real estate and the fastest growing group in Australia, we are managing an average of almost $48 million worth of property sales every day. We achieved a combined record-breaking $17.5 billion in sales in the 12 months to the end of January 2007, and with a clear focus on growth, look forward to another outstanding year in all markets Harcourts is represented in.”

Mr Pullar said that he was proud of his team who were “incredibly loyal and passionate about outstanding service.” He added that as well as brand excellence and “like-minded” philosophy which was a crucial part of the alliance, Harcourts’ reputation for ground-breaking technology and training systems would provide huge value to not only his team, but also to the increasingly sophisticated expectations of the public and those looking to build a professional real estate career.

“Our people are committed and passionate about achieving the best outcome for our clients with a unique sales system to back that up. Becoming MPRE Harcourts will play a major part of our expansion towards the city following on from our dominance in the peninsula.” Mr Pullar reinforced that with the Melbourne public used to a relatively sophisticated real estate system, “you only get one shot at it if you want to succeed and dominate. Harcourts will take us where other franchises haven’t been able to go and without a doubt we believe MPRE Harcourts can make it in the city.”

With an aggressive growth strategy top of the agenda for MPRE Harcourts, Mr Pullar confirmed that they were already talking to a number of top performers to discuss opportunities to open their own offices or rebrand. “Our success has been based on the excellence of our people and we will not compromise on quality when it comes to offices and business owners joining us.”

ENDS

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