By ANNE GIBSON
The tougher economy is putting the squeeze on real estate agents, with offices merging and banding together to ride out the trough.
The latest move comes from Ray White Ponsonby, which has taken over Ray White Remuera and its 13 staff.
This follows the deal announced at the end of
June which saw Century 21 expand its branch network, buying all 14 Allens Group offices. This doubled the number of salespeople Century 21 has in Auckland and took to 70 the number of Century 21 offices in New Zealand.
In buying the Remuera office, Ray White Ponsonby has 28 salespeople in the two offices, working some of Auckland's best suburbs.
"As real estate becomes more refined and as the market gets more sophisticated and tighter, people band together," said Ray White Ponsonby's Simon Damerell. The move was also a sign of a tougher market, he said.
Mr Damerell has close ties with Remuera, as principal of Remuera Primary School from 1991 to 1995.
Bryce Earwaker of Ray White Ponsonby bought the office four years ago when, he said, it had only three agents. Its strength has been its ability to successfully auction properties, he said.
The latest deal gives Ray White coverage in Herne Bay, St Mary's Bay, Freemans Bay, Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Westmere, Arch Hill, Remuera, Orakei, St Johns and Glendowie.
House sales have been declining lately. The volume of sales for the Greater Auckland market was down a quarter in the three months to April, compared with the same period last year, according to the July statistics from Bayleys Real Estate.
Sales for cheaper properties were hardest hit. Sales of houses worth $150,000 declined by 35 per cent.
"Despite the falling volume of sales, the upper end of the Auckland residential market continues to perform well, with a median price of $525,000 recorded for the April 2000 quarter.
Meanwhile, figures released on August 1 from the Real Estate Institute show total sales rose nationwide from $1 million in May to $1.1 million in June.
House sales had picked up from the low recorded in April, according to president Max Oliver, when only 5238 sales were recorded. This rose to 5424 in May and to 5515 in June.
