Laing+Simmons opened its first office in Newcastle this week, with the team formerly known as Nest Realty Group embarking on its next phase of growth under a new boutique brand.
Local real estate veteran Michael Barber will lead the team at Laing+Simmons Newcastle Central with growth – and recruitment – on the agenda.
He’s joined by Angela Barber, a highly-experienced financial planner, and 16-year local residential sales expert Luke Searles.
Formerly operating under the well-known independent brand Nest Realty Group, a local fixture in Charlestown for many years, Mr Barber and the team have rebranded to Laing+Simmons to facilitate their next phase of growth while maintaining the customer focus that has been the hallmark of success for the family business.
Mr Barber said the Charlestown location makes sense for an evolving company, as the area is seeing around 300 properties transacting each year.
“This is perhaps Newcastle’s growth heartland at present. We’ve seen new developments spring up along the Pacific Highway corridor in recent years and there’s more to come,” he said.
“It’s part of the reason we’ve aligned with a network with a specialist project marketing division. We see a major opportunity for growth and our new brand will help facilitate this, as we’re able to add additional value to our customers through the property lifecycle, from offthe-plan sales through to new-builds and re-sales of established homes.”
Mr Barber said while some of the price heat has come out of the market in the last year, though not to the extent of larger markets like Sydney and Melbourne, more recently he’s seen values stabilise in the area.
“With the strong population growth Newcastle’s key connected suburbs are now experiencing, the housing market can be expected to return to long-term growth trends,” he explained.
“Bricks and mortar continues to be an attractive investment for people looking for financial security and peace of mind.”
Laing+Simmons Network Growth Manager Travis Wentriro said establishing a presence in Newcastle has been a priority for the group.
“Newcastle has been on our radar for expansion because of its position as one of the country’s most important regional growth markets. But we needed to find the right team whose principles and experience matched our family business culture,” Mr Wentriro said.
“In Michael and Angela, we’ve found the ideal operators to establish a Laing+Simmons presence in Newcastle.”
He said Laing+Simmons is pursuing an organic expansion agenda and made a point of working only with top local operators who want to grow an asset for the future.
