Harcourts Australia had plenty of reasons to celebrate over the weekend. In addition to the company hosting its annual awards night on Saturday, the group also announced it is now the second-largest real estate group in the country.
CEO Marcus Williams made the announcement at Harcourts Australia’s hybrid awards event on Saturday night, where more than 2000 team members around the country celebrated together in real time from locations in five states.
Mr Williams was able to make the announcement that Harcourts has become Australia’s second-largest real estate group after receiving confirmation from CoreLogic prior to Saturday night’s event, according to a company spokesperson.
After a year that has not been without its challenges, Mr Williams said he was grateful to be able to share the good news at the event.
“We were so proud to be able to announce to our business owners and teams that we have continually increased our market share and have now achieved the ranking of number two real estate brand across Australia,” Mr Williams said.
Mr Williams had set a goal for Harcourts to become the second-largest real estate brand in the nation when the company celebrated its 20th birthday in 2017.
“There were many who said it was an audacious goal – many who said it was impossible,” he told Elite Agent.
“We knew we had the plan in place to get to this position, but the best laid plans are still just plans.
“Despite all the challenges over the previous year, I am thrilled to say that last year was in fact our best year yet.
“Never before has the Harcourts group listed, sold, managed or mortgaged as many properties.”
Mr Williams said Harcourts had slowly been increasing its market share across every state over the past year, “and market share in my eyes is the only true measurement of success”.
A LOGISTICAL TRIUMPH
In a year in which everyone had to learn to expect the unexpected, Harcourts Australia’s Head of Events Teagan Seacombe had her work cut out for her organising Saturday’s events.
In addition to the national event, which was held at Royal International Convention Centre, simultaneous state awards night were being held in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
“I didn’t sleep much the night before,” Ms Seacombe told Elite Agent.
“Hosting a single awards night is already a complex operation – it’s a black-tie gala dinner combined with three hours of presenting a host of awards highlighting the previous year’s achievements.
“Organising and producing the same event as a hybrid across five locations on the same night and also creating a virtual national award presentation (that was live in Queensland) where everyone was participating in real time was a mammoth challenge.”
After being forced to host their awards night via Zoom last year, Ms Seacombe said it was rewarding to be able to host live events again this year.
“We knew our network teams were really excited to come together in person after a year of being on Zoom,” she said.
“We knew from our experience of only producing virtual events last year that there’s an extra element of fun and laughter that comes from sharing with people in other geographic locations, so despite the extreme logistical challenges involved, we decided to incorporate that concept.”
“I think it’s the future of events,” continued Ms Seccombe, who was previously lead event manager for realestate.com.au for seven years.
“Not everyone is able to travel, and we are aware that they may not want to. We were thrilled to be able to create a really extraordinary experience for everyone, incorporating the best of being together in-person and sharing virtually.”
NEW GOAL IN SIGHT
Mr Williams said the group now is now setting its sights even higher.
“I have no doubt that Harcourts will be the leading real estate brand in Australia,” he said.
“Our 400-office-strong franchise network and our 140-strong corporate team are committed to achieving this goal, a goal reflecting the incredible talent we have attracted to our group.
“Harcourts is a company that attracts not just great people to our corporate team and network, but clients want to do business with us.
“I have no doubt our vision to be number one will become a reality.”
A full list of national and state winners will be announced later this week.
