Harcourts Dominates At National Auctioneering Champs

Harcourts New Zealand has triumphed at the 2021 REINZ National Real Estate Auctioneering Championships with four of its own taking top honours ahead of scores of competitors.

Mark McGoldrick from Harcourts Holmwood in Christchurch has clinched the Premiere Division as a joint winner and will represent New Zealand at the Australasian Auctioneering Championships in Sydney later this year. Travers Smyth from Harcourts Cooper & Co on the North Shore has won the Rising Star competition, receiving the Colin Brown Memorial Cup ahead of 18 other competitors.

Sam Walmsley also of Harcourts Cooper & Co won the inaugural Open Division, held for the first time to broaden the competition’s reach and ensuring each calibre of auctioneer is catered for. Daryll Roberts from Harcourts Monarch (Hamilton) placed runner-up in the Rising Star Division.

Two days of intense competition in Auckland drew an extremely high calibre of auctioneers, with chief judge Mark Sumich saying the standard this year has been the best in the competition’s 21-year history.

“New Zealand’s auctioneers have not had time to be side-tracked by the pandemic. Their services have been in huge demand over the past year. What is obvious is that these orators have not been idle between calls,” he says.

“Their preparations for the Championships were clearly appropriate as they expertly manufactured their way through the maze of bids on offer at the competition. This annual ‘Warrant of Fitness’ once again had a 100% pass rate.”

Harcourts managing director Bryan Thomson says the domination shows the expertise and commitment to excellence of the company’s auctioneers across the country. “We are thrilled at the success we have achieved in a competition that showcases a crucial skill within real estate today,” he says.

“To have a premiere winner as well as upcoming stars make their mark on this contest really illustrates the depth of experience as well as the potential of those coming up the ranks within our team.”

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