Trend #8 in the 2007 edition of the Swanepoel TRENDS Report discussed the likelihood of non-US real estate brokerage companies expanding to the United States. Countries that were identified to lead the charge included Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany and South Africa.
This week, Australian-based Harcourts, with over 630 offices and 4,000+ agents in nine countries, became the third major non-US based company to validate this forecast with the announcement of a joint venture with one of California’s large real estate companies, Altera Real Estate.
Harcourts was founded in New Zealand in 1888 by John Bateman Harcourt, the patriarch of one of Wellington’s first families. Growth really only started 100 years later when under the leadership of Stephen Collins, Paul Wright and Mike Green the company decided to pursue franchising and globalization as a core strategy. The company expanded to Australia in 1997 and subsequently moved their head office to Queensland, Australia. Expansion continued in 2004 into Fiji, Indonesia in 2005, Singapore in 2007, China in 2008, South Africa in 2008 and Hong Kong in 2009.
2013 NAR President Makes Strategic Global Move
Altera Real Estate was formed in 2008 when Gary Thomas of RE/MAX Real Estate Services (Orange County, Southern California) and Dennis and Colleen Badagliacco of RE/MAX Valley Properties (Silicon Valley, Northern California) both left the RE/MAX International franchise network.
RE/MAX® Real Estate Services, founded in 1985 by Gary Thomas as RE/MAX® South County, is one of the Top 100 real estate companies in the US (based on dollar volume) according to Real Trends and RISMedia. The first office in Mission Viejo, California was followed up by seven other locations that total some 350 sales associates. Thomas, a second-generation Realtor®, was the 2001 elected President of the California Association of REALTORS® and is on track to become the 2013 President of the National Association of REALTORS®. He has a business management degree from Woodbury University.
RE/MAX® Valley Properties was established in 1980 by husband and wife team Dennis and Colleen Badagliacco. The Badagliaccos had some 85 agents in four San Jose/Silicon Valley locations. Colleen was the 2007 president of the California Association of REALTORS®. Combined Altera Real Estate today totals nine brokerages in three states - California, Hawaii, and Oregon – with 21 offices and approximately 700 agents.
The Harcourts joint venture with Altera follows a similar strategy they utilized in Southern Australia with Brock Real Estate and with HomeNet in South Africa. Both initiatives drove Harcourts in becoming one of the largest companies in each of those respective markets in a less than a year.
Canada and Germany
Two other large foreign companies have also affirmed the trend towards real estate globalization. First is Canadian-based Brookfield Residential Property Services (Brookfield RPS), a division of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (Brookfield), and owner of Royal LePage, the largest Canadian residential real estate company. They followed a different strategy for international expansion by in 2008 acquiring GMAC Real Estate. In 2009 with the acquisition of Ohio-based Real Living, the two merging entities began rebranding as Real Living. Meanwhile German-based real estate company, Engel & Vöelkers expanded into New England, Florida and California by opening franchises under their Property Shop Concept.
Competition in the US real estate business has not only tightened as a result of a the economy, but now non-US based real estate companies are increasingly seeking to carve out a piece of the market for themselves. For more research on global and US real estate trends visit www.RETrends.com
