Australasia’s largest real estate and property group, Ray White, has recorded its best ever February residential sales result in Victoria.

Ray White Victorian General Manager Marcus Williams said preliminary statewide sales figures for February totalled in excess of $350 million - a 58 per cent increase on sales for the corresponding month in 2009.

Mr Williams said the highly active residential market was expected to continue at least in the short term despite the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) this week raising official interest rates to 4.0 per cent.
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Australasia’s largest real estate and property group, Ray White, has defied rising interest rates and the traditionally quiet summer holiday season to report a 16 per cent rise in residential sales in New South Wales during January.

Ray White NSW CEO Stephen Nell said the group in January achieved total residential sales of $355 million, compared to $306 million in the corresponding month in 2009.

“This is a great result considering so many offices are normally closed during much of January and consequently there is a lot less marketing of properties going on,” Mr Nell said.

“But a large number of our businesses stayed active through the festive season and they have reaped the rewards.”
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Australasia’s largest real estate and property group, Ray White, has expanded its presence in Victoria due to an unprecedented sales surge over the past year.

Ray White Victorian General Manager Marcus Williams said new offices were being opened in Melbourne as well as regional Victoria to keep up with demand.

“We were breaking sales records almost every month during 2009 and we had our best ever result for December,” Mr Williams said.

“No one could have predicted this position 12 months previously as we entered the year shrouded in uncertainty about the economic outlook.

“But after a cautious start, demand for property, particularly in Melbourne, strengthened to a point where sales exceeded results achieved in the boom year of 2006.
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Australasia’s largest real estate and property group, Ray White, has joined forces with another family-owned property company in India.

Ray White Chairman Brian White said the group has formed a partnership with Gulshan Properties, which was established 50 years ago and is one of India’s top five real estate companies.

Mr White said Gulshan Properties will align its New Delhi office with the Ray White Group with plans for further expansion throughout India.

“The Ray White Group has expressed an interest in having a partnership in Delhi and the Gulshan Group provide a perfect platform for the growth of the Ray White business model throughout India,” Mr White said.

“It is expected that the Gulshan Group will provide franchise opportunities and the first of these are to be appointed in Goa under the supervision of Gulshan Properties.”
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Rising interest rates will prevent the housing market from overheating and will help create a well balanced market, a real estate group says.

Ray White chairman Brian White says this month’s interest rate rise by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the prospect of further increases will prevent the property market from rising too rapidly.

He said the past 12 months had been the most volatile he had known in the Australian property sector.

“There’s nothing worse than a market getting out of control and the residential market has been remarkably strong over the last four or five months,” he said in a statement.

“A booming housing market produces very few long-term benefits. Sure, it’s great for sales over the short term, but then comes the hangover and the pain.”
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The increase in the official interest rates shouldn’t hurt the housing market, real estate group Ray White says.

Ray White joint chairman Brian White said the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) had made it clear the near record-low interest rates of three per cent had been an emergency measure during the global financial crisis.

“This 0.25 per cent rate rise was expected,” he said.

“I think we can afford a couple of interest rate rises and the confidence in the economy and the real estate market will override any concerns about where rates are headed.”
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A “new breed” of buyers dominated by investors and people upgrading their properties has caused a surge in demand for residential real estate nationwide, according to Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White.

Ray White Deputy Chairman Sam White said auction clearance rates in some suburban Sydney markets had been over 90 per cent over the past two weekends and there had also been strong activity in other capital cities.

Mr White said the rush for property was not being dominated by first home buyers trying to capitalise at the eleventh hour on the boosted First Home Owner’s Grant, which has been reduced from today.

He said the market was being boosted by people upgrading their homes and property investors who were now more confident about the Australian economy.
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Property markets nationwide are already experiencing a spring surge after better than expected winter results, according to Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White.

Ray White Deputy Chairman Sam White said the group had achieved record results in some states during August and there had been above average auction clearance rates in all capital cities this month.

“The market, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, has fired up and we are seeing many properties selling well above reserve,” Mr White said.

Ray White in August recorded its greatest monthly residential sales result in Victoria with sales statewide topping $400 million, a 55 per cent improvement on August, 2008.
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The NSW housing market is expected to bloom in spring as it recovers from the recent downturn, helped by low interest rates and the first home buyers grant, says industry giant Ray White.

Ray White said statewide sales for June, July and August were just under $2 billion compared with $1.4 billion for the samer period in 2008.

Chief executive Stephen Nell said the results showed that the market has recovered from a downturn in activity.

“We’re expecting great things from the spring, which is traditionally the busiest time of the year and a time when there should be a lot more stock on the market,” he said.
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Demand for property in Queensland has increased significantly over the past three months, according to Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White.

Ray White Queensland CEO Peter Camphin said statewide sales figures for May, June and July this year were up 22 per cent on the corresponding period in 2008.

Mr Camphin said bidder registrations at in-room and on-site auctions had also grown substantially in recent months.

He said the group was currently achieving auction clearance rates in Queensland of around 70 per cent.
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Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White, has achieved its best ever July sales result in New South Wales in another strong sign that the property market has bounced back from the economic downturn.

Ray White NSW CEO Stephen Nell said the group’s total statewide sales for July was more than $657 million, the best result since the group started tracking monthly results in 2001.

Mr Nell said it was the most successful July sales tally since 2003, when the monthly total was $513 million, and a 34 per cent improvement on the corresponding period in 2008.

He said it was an unusual to have such a strong sales total in July, as sellers traditionally hibernate during winter.
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Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White, has rallied behind the five Sydney children orphaned after their parents tragically died of cancer within days of each other.

Ray White Fairfield Principal Vince Movizio has become a major supporter of the Hanna family, whose story has touched the hearts of millions of Australians.

The Fairfield West family’s world was devastated on May 16 this year when their father Jamal, 54, died from secondary bone cancer and six days later his wife Shatha, 44, passed away following a battle with breast cancer.

Their children Christina, five, Alex, nine, Andy, 13, Allin, 15, and Nansey, 18, lived in a rented house and faced the prospect of being homeless until an amazing community response to their plight.
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Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White, is on track to dominate the residential development sales sector in New South Wales due to the early impact of the recently launched Ray White Development Marketing.

Ray White Development Marketing Principal Troy Turner said the Sydney-based division had made significant inroads during its first two months of operation.

“We are already on track to achieve our first year goal of having more than 1,000 lots on land subdivisions under management,” he said.

“Sydney’s north-west and south-west regions have seen a massive lift in sales since January with most land estates and builders reporting their best six month sales figures since 2003.
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Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White, achieved almost a 70 per cent clearance rate and sales of more than $40 million in its latest series of Auction Spectacular residential property events in Queensland.

Auction Spectaculars are being held during June and July at locations throughout Australia and New Zealand, with four events staged in South-East Queensland over the past week.

Ray White Chief Auctioneer Philip Parker said 120 properties were listed at the four auctions in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and so far 83 had been sold with more than $40 million in sales generated.

Mr Parker said the largest of the Brisbane auctions was held yesterday at the Emporium Hotel in Fortitude Valley when 41 mostly inner-city properties were listed.
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Australasia’s largest real estate group, Ray White, expects to sell tens of millions of dollars worth of residential property in Queensland this week when it hosts its latest series of Auction Spectacular events.

Auction Spectaculars are being held until to July 1 at locations throughout Australia and New Zealand, including four in South-East Queensland featuring more than 140 properties.

Ray White CEO Business Growth Mark McLeod said the first of the Queensland Auction Spectaculars will be held at the Kedron Wavell Services Club at Chermside in Brisbane’s north from 6pm tomorrow night.

There will also be events at the Marriott Hotel at Surfers Paradise from 11am on Thursday and at the BTP Centre at Browns Plains in Brisbane’s south on Thursday night. The fourth mega-auction will be staged on Sunday at the Emporium Hotel in Fortitude Valley.
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