Dan, Sam, and Ben White shared how the Ray White Group is growing across finance, property management, and new service lines, all while staying grounded in trust and community.
Sam White highlighted Loan Market’s remarkable trajectory, noting that mortgage broking usage in Australia has grown from just under 70% three years ago to almost 80% today.
The increase has been driven largely by word-of-mouth, with customers referring others and creating momentum without heavy advertising, and Loan Market now handles about 20% of all Australian mortgages and one in four broker loans, with a similar share in New Zealand, totalling 220,000 loans last year.
The business is also expanding into areas such as vehicle and asset finance, from cars and trucks to aircraft.
The trio also turned the focus to property management, pointing to the extraordinary growth of Ailo, which is a property management platform co-founded by Ben White. (It is independently owned and not part of the Ray White Group).
Three years ago, the platform had just over 6,000 properties; today, it’s more than 100,000, with monthly payments processed increasing from $10 million to $250 million.
They said the numbers matter less than the people and processes behind them.
“It’s about putting more joy and control back into the hands of property managers,” Ben said.
For a broader definition of property management beyond collecting rent and fixing things, positioning it as the part of the business that builds “a continuing, ongoing customer relationship” with the community.
The brothers explained the group’s “Three Horizons” framework for managing growth.
Horizon 1 is the core, with established businesses like Loan Market.
Horizon 2 covers emerging businesses that have customers and a plan but are still proving their model, while Horizon 3 is where early-stage ideas live, concepts that borrow resources from the core, some of which will succeed and others that won’t.
Loan Market itself began as a Horizon 3 idea before becoming a major pillar of the group.
Current Horizon 2 initiatives include developing proprietary home loan products, replacing trust accounting in sales, and expanding into services such as conveyancing, buyer’s agency, and automated loan repricing.
Dan White discussed how technology, especially AI, fits into this picture.
While media attention often focuses on tools like ChatGPT, he said the real opportunity lies in using technology to create sustained value while honouring what makes the business unique.
Many of the group’s platforms already embed AI, even if they aren’t labelled that way, and development continues across multiple fronts.
“There might still be more questions than answers, but we’re committed in working it through,” he said.
For Dan, technology must ultimately strengthen the trust at the heart of the brand.
Market share growth, Dan added, happens at the local level — “suburb by suburb, community by community”, rather than through sweeping national shifts.
This community focus, combined with a commitment to stay united on technology and service delivery, is critical to long-term success.
Dan closed with the reminder that growth should benefit everyone in the network: “If we can grow the pie, that’s not just an economic pie for business owners. It’s an opportunity for property managers to grow their pie as well and have more fulfilment.”
