6 September, 2011

Award winning real estate office calls on RBA for interest rate clarity

Continuing debate over interest rates is causing uncertainty for homebuyers, according to an expert from award winning firm Raine & Horne Collaroy-Dee Why, which earned nine awards at the recent Raine & Horne National Awards.

David Gilmour has been a real estate agent in Manly Warringah for the past 41 years. He said that although the Northern Beaches real estate market remained robust, he would like to see some direction from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on interest rates, as uncertainty was unsettling some buyers.

“Buyers are wary because they aren’t sure whether interest rates are going up or down, and the conjecture isn’t helping," Mr Gilmore said.

“So it is time the RBA governor took the lead and made some statements about the future starting today.”

Although Mr Gilmour wasn not blaming the RBA entirely, he suggested the combination of economic events in North American and Europe, as well as domestic political turmoil, was also contributing to buyer and vendor anxiety.

“Three years ago we had the GFC, which didn’t actually translate into a real estate crisis for Manly Warringah,” Mr Gilmour said.

“However this time around we’ve had bad news out of America and Europe, as well as electoral uncertainty in Canberra and these factors are hurting buyer confidence.

“It also doesn’t helps that the NSW Government is telling us we’re within an inch of going broke and that we need to go into more debt.”

“The situation we find ourselves in today is similar to the credit crash in the early 1980s, where stock levels dried up and buyers were wary of interest rates.”

That said, Mr Gilmour said the long term fundamentals for Manly-Warringah real estate remained positive.

"If vendors are prepared to meet the market this spring, then they will sell their homes," Mr Gilmore said.

“A shortage of listings will underpin values, while those vendors who need to sell must price their homes sensibly to meet the market to get in front of the competition,” he said.

Indeed, the expertise of Mr Gilmour and the Raine & Horne Collaroy and Raine & Horne Dee Why offices, which have a large percentage of the Manly Warringah property market, helped the firm to a dominating performance at the Raine & Horne National Awards.

Leading the way was Lachlan Yeates, in the hotly contested ‘top salesperson number of sales’ category, while Peter Mosedale, finished equal fourth in the same category.

In the similarly competitive ‘top salesperson based on the dollar value of sales’ category, Mr Yeates finished fourth and Mr Mosedale sixth, which put them ahead of thousands of agents working for Raine & Horne nationally.

“Many of our competitors list just one or two properties a month, while Lachlan lists as many as 25 to 30 on a monthly basis,” Mr Gilmour said.

In the ‘Top Office – Dollar Value’ category, Raine & Horne Collaroy grabbed second place out of Raine & Horne’s network of 360 offices, with Raine & Horne Dee Why in fifth.

Furthermore, Raine & Horne Collaroy secured second place in the ‘Top Office – Number of Sales’ category, just behind one of Australia’s most successful offices, Raine & Horne Double Bay.

Raine & Horne Collaroy also grabbed a gong for the most number of referrals directed to mortgage broker Raine & Horne Financial Services, while Natalie Robson from Raine & Horne Dee Why, was the network’s top referring agent.

According to Mr Gilmour, Raine & Horne Collaroy / Dee Why’s award winning ways can be attributed to hard work and focus.

“We aren’t doing anything different and have just sharpened our focus, which keeps us ahead of our competitors,” declarhe said.

“We don’t look for short cuts, because in real estate industry shortcuts lead to dead ends.

“Lachlan and Peter’s awards were absolutely outstanding when you consider the depth of Raine & Horne’s sales team nationally, while the office awards demonstrate the quality of the people we employ.”

For all your property needs contact Raine & Horne Collaroy on (02) 9982 7733 or Raine & Horne Dee Why on (02) 9971 9000.

Raine & Horne is an iconic Australian property firm, with more than 360 offices worldwide. Also an established Superbrand along with Qantas, Vegemite, Woolworths and Myer, the company has four distinct property service brands including Raine & Horne Residential, Raine & Horne Commercial, Raine & Horne Rural and Raine & Horne Financial.

-ENDS-

For further media information contact:

David Gilmour, Principal Raine & Horne Collaroy-Dee Why, 0412 233 438

Anna Truman, National Marketing & Communications Co-ordinator, 02 9258 5448