INTERNATIONAL
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Harcourts and Glen Coutinho to open flagship office in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles
Harcourts International has announced the expansion of the growing Harcourts USA network. Global real estate pioneer Glen Coutinho has joined the Harcourts USA team as Director of Growth & Training, for the Pacific Region, and will become owner of a new office in Beverly Hills. “We are very pleased to welcome Glen to the Harcourts group,” said Harcourts International Managing Director…
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Chinese investment in Australian property to stay strong in 2019 as buyers look to ‘grab a bargain’
Juwai.com has released the Australia 2019 Outlook for Chinese Residential Real Estate Buying, which shows that 2019 will continue the strong outlook for Chinese investment as buyers are attracted by dropping prices in key markets. According to the report, Chinese buyers will be bolstered by strong Chinese wealth growth and the desire to get a bargain while the market is…
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Purplebricks changes tactics in US, takes on traditional fee structure
Fixed-fee agency Purplebricks has announced a change to its US business model, switching to a varied listing fee structure which will only be charged when a home is sold. The new approach for the network will launch this week and aligns the business with a more traditional agency model. “These changes have been informed by customer and agent feedback and…
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Australia named second least-affordable housing market in the world
The 15th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey shows Australia as the second most unaffordable market for housing, with New Zealand coming in third. The survey uses a measurement of ‘median multiple’ to rank affordability, which is found by dividing median house price by gross annual median household income. This method is the same favoured by the United Nations and…
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Crown Residences at Barangaroo, Ironfish, ArchiStar and BC Securities Win Chinese Global Choice Awards from Juwai.com
Australian companies Crown Residences at Barangaroo, Ironfish, ArchiStar and BC Securities were four of the most notable among the 20 of the world’s very best China-focused real estate marketers who were named as winners of the Global Chinese Choice Award by Juwai.com at a gala black-tie dinner event in Shanghai on Wednesday, 5 December. The awards presentation followed four months…
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Airbnb set to start designing houses in 2019
Airbnb has announced they will begin building their own prototype homes in 2019 through a new project called Backyard. The short-term letting platform, which arguably kicked off the self-managed short-term letting craze, already has a global network of more than five million properties and is estimated to be worth approximately $38 billion. According to a press release, Backyard will be…
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Greg Paramor AO Joins Board of Directors at Juwai.com
Greg Paramor AO will join the Board of Directors of Juwai.com as a non-executive director from 1 December 2018. Mr Paramor has been involved in the real estate and funds management industry for more than 40 years. He is former CEO of Mirvac Group, past president of both the Property Council of Australia and the Investment Funds Association, a board member of…
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Rob Forde appointed as Harcourts Chief Operating Officer International
Harcourts International has named Rob Forde as Chief Operating Officer International. Mr Forde will be responsible for leading operations and driving growth in six Harcourts territories – USA, China, Hong Kong, Canada, South Africa and Indonesia – as well as taking responsibility for Harcourts’ financial services business, Mortgage Express. Mr Forde takes on this new role and joins the international leadership…
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realestate.com.au goes international with the launch of Travel
realestate.com.au has launched Travel, a new vertical as part of its popular Lifestyle content experience. Travel joins the five existing Lifestyle categories – Renovating, Indoor Style, Outdoor Living, Organising & Cleaning and Dream Homes – to provide Australians with a truly ‘one stop shop’ for all their inspiration and insights needs on realestate.com.au. To celebrate the launch of Travel, realestate.com.au has…
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Not so golden after all
This week is Golden Week – a holiday week for the Chinese where it used to be all about travel, and in Australia, property. But not for the last couple of years according to Juwai.com CEO Carrie Law. Ms Law says that the balloon has definitely deflated over the past three Golden Weeks, and while they still see some transactions, it’s not…
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Bubble Index 2018 suggests risk appears greatest in Hong Kong
UBS Global Wealth Management’s Chief Investment Office have released The UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index 2018, indicating ‘Bubble risk’ or a significant overvaluation of housing markets in most major developed market financial centres. According to the report, ‘Bubble risk’ appears greatest in Hong Kong, followed by Munich, Toronto, Vancouver, London and Amsterdam. The study has also found imbalances in Stockholm,…
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Coldwell Banker announces iBuyer product to level the playing field
Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE: RLGY) announced a partnership with Home Partners of America’s subsidiary, cataLIST, to offer a ‘quick-sale’ program via NRT’s Coldwell Banker brand in selected markets in the USA. This would allow their agents access to a similar model to compete with iBuyer or ‘quick sale’ programs already in the market. Through the cataLIST Program, an owner of a…
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Harcourts Partners with The Global Challenge in South Africa
Harcourts South Africa has partnered with The Global Challenge – an international professional women’s golf team event – where nine players selected to represent the Northern Hemisphere will be teeing up against their counterparts from the Southern Hemisphere. The event is set to be hosted for the second time from 9-11 November in Hermanus, South Africa. For the first time…
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Keller Williams adds Contract Smarts to Virtual Assistant
KUNGFU.AI US-based artificial intelligence services company, and Keller Williams (KW), one of the world’s largest real estate companies by agent count, have announced a partnership to together build a robust new real estate contract-reading skill for Kelle, a proprietary artificial intelligence-based personal assistant for KW agents. Launched in mid-February 2018, Kelle has more than 97,000 monthly active users and the Kelle…
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Juwai.com launches World’s Top China-Focused Real Estate Developers and Agents awards
The world’s top real estate developers and agents are vying for recognition in the Chinese market via the first-annual Juwai Global Chinese Choice Awards. Juwai.com is the No. 1 Chinese international property portal and international property partner to both Tencent and JD.com. “China is the cutting edge for property marketing worldwide. Excellence in China-focused international property development and services deserves…
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Zillow to allow renters to search, apply and pay for rentals online
US-based platform Zillow has debuted a system which will allow renters to find, apply for and pay for rentals online. The system will be rolled out across the company’s three platforms – Zillow, Trulia and HotPads – but not New York-based StreetEasy. “Renters tell us they want the entire rental process to happen online, from search to application to payment.…
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New report shows foreign buyer taxes on the decline worldwide
According to a new Juwai.com report the world will see fewer new foreign buyer restrictions imposed in top Chinese property destinations in the year ahead than in any of the prior three years. The Foreign Buyer Restrictions Report 2018-19 points out that Canada’s two largest provinces, six of Australia’s eight states and territories, and Australia’s national government have all increased…
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Raine & Horne continues global expansion with third office in Fiji
Leading Australian property group Raine & Horne is escalating its worldwide expansion with the opening of a third office in Fiji in less than 12 months. Raine & Horne Fiji directors, CJ Shergill, Sanjay Krishnan and Aveet Goundar, launched offices in Lautoka and Nadi in July 2017. “Since joining the network, the Fiji team have gone from strength to strength…
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Zillow appoints first President in executive shuffle
Former Group Marketing Officer Jeremy Wacksman has been appointed President of Zillow after nine years with the company, making him the first person to hold the title. Mr Wacksman will oversee the entire Zillow brand, and continue to control the Zillow Group marketing in his role. In addition to this, he’ll be adopting the strategy, product development and engineering teams…
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Harcourts experiences substantial growth in US market
Despite just three years of operations in the US, Harcourts has seen significant growth in the region, under complex market conditions. Over the past 12 months, the US business has opened two new offices in Southern California, innovated their Harcourts Academy training, and continue to grow their non-distressed auction platform. Overall, agent numbers have drastically increased in this past year…
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Harcourts NZ wins Readers Digest award
Reader’s Digest New Zealand has announced its Most Trusted brands for 2018, and Harcourts for it’s sixth consecutive year has been voted Harcourts their Most Trusted real estate brand. Harcourts New Zealand CEO Chris Kennedy says the support and faith New Zealanders continue to put into the company is humbling. “To be named the Most Trusted real estate brand for six years…
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Chatbots take on the human form
Chatbots are about to take on human form, courtesy of FaceMe and their digital assistants who look, sound and interact just like real people. FaceMe is an Artificial Intelligence platform that offers customised digital assistants which embody the most human of personas. It features avatars that can hear, see and remember customers, and “have the capacity to empathise for exceptional…
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ACproperty partners with ListGlobally to give agents access to 120 international property portals
Chinese property portal ACproperty has moved forward in their partnership with ListGlobally to launch Sodichan.com, an international property portal. Managing director Esther Yong told us more about the partnership and their plan for international property domination. “Agents put their listings on ACproperty and Chinese buyers come on the site, send enquiries or call them directly. Very similar to REA or…
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Disruptors amongst top US brokerage firms
Real estate disruptors are gaining traction in the US, with innovative players like Redfin and Compass both named in the top 10 brokerage firms in terms of sales. According to the recently released inaugural Swanepoel Mega 1000 list, which ranks US brokerages, Redfin came in at fourth position with $22.5 billion in sales last year, while Compass took out ninth position…
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RE/MAX tops 120,000 agents in its first quarter
As the global real estate giant reaches another milestone, RE/MAX Australia and New Zealand Franchise Director Joel Davoren says his regions are travelling a similar upward path as the international scene. RE/MAX® concluded the first quarter 2018 with a global count topping 120,000 agents. “That is an addition of more than 30,000 productive agents in the past five years,” Mr…
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European model reducing the cost of Australian housing
Baugruppen is a housing model first established in Germany that sees like-minded home buyers come together to design and build multi-residential housing. Rather than buying off the plan, they buy land as a group and then commission designers and builders to construct projects to their specifications. The Conversation explains the name roughly translates to “building group” and “stands for a long tradition…
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US’s National Association of Realtors® backs ActivePipe and is handpicked for NAR REach® 2018 Accelerator Class
ActivePipe, a Melbourne-based automated communications platform for the real estate industry, announced that the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is taking a minor stake in the company and has been chosen as one of only eight companies into the exclusive National Association of Realtors®’ Second Century Ventures 2018 REach® accelerator program. The REach® program is focused on providing early-to-mid-stage companies…
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AI partnership to help Juwai.com overcome language barriers
Chinese international property portal Juwai.com and Macau-based artificial intelligence and service robot pioneer Singou Technology Ltd. have signed a new partnership that will see Juwai.com deploy Singou’s AI engine to enhance the consumer service it provides to Chinese international property buyers. Juwai.com will also begin distributing to the property industry and to homeowners the robot Butler 1, Singou’s newest model.…
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Trump’s trade war could see more Chinese buyers turn to Australian property
A series of back-and-forth tariffs has sparked fears in the US that a trade war with China could be on the horizon – but experts feel this could be a plus for the Australian property market. After China imposed tariffs on 128 American products imported into the country, Trump retaliated with tariffs on $50 billion USD-worth of imports. These back…
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Ray White Indonesia celebrates its winners
More than 500 agents in Indonesia attended the annual Ray White Awards for 2018 in Jakarta, coming from all over the country to celebrate the year’s achievements and success. Ray White Indonesia CEO Johann Boyke Nurtanio (pictured below) said the network’s number one position as market leader was defined by more than awards but by the acknowledgement from businesses across…
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RE/MAX global awards come home to Australia
With so many top producers and leaders in the global network of well over 115,000, RE/MAX® held three memorable events at the 2018 R4 Convention in Las Vegas to celebrate personal achievement and business successes throughout the network. A Special Awards Luncheon, a 100 Percent Club Luncheon and the Best of RE/MAX ‘Night of the Stars’ Awards Gala honoured the…
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RE/MAX Global Takes Bold Step to Acquiring Leading Technology Firm booj
In a move signalling a shift in RE/MAX technology strategy, RE/MAX, LLC announced it has acquired booj, an award-winning Colorado-based web design and technology company. The acquisition cements a new approach for RE/MAX that goes beyond adapting third-party vendor products to fit broker and agent needs. Moving forward, RE/MAX say they will leverage the capabilities of booj and other strategic…
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RE/MAX agents get in the ‘big picture’ in Vegas
More than 40 real estate names from Australia and New Zealand rubbed shoulders with another 6,000-plus real estate agents and broker owners at the 45th annual RE/MAX R4 Convention in Las Vegas this month. “The annual R4 Convention is like no other real estate industry gathering. Just the physical numbers of people, the calibre of speakers, the quality of entertainment,…
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CoreLogic acquires UK tech company to bolster global operations
CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, has today announced the completion of the company’s acquisition of eTech Solutions Limited (eTech). Founded in 2005, eTech is the UK’s leading provider of innovative mobile surveying and workflow management software that enhances productivity and mitigates risk for participants in the UK property market. With more than 50% of…
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Striking the balance between technology and the personal touch
Technology might be offering a host of potential for the real estate industry, but a new report has found the key to using it successfully is striking the right balance between personalisation and automation. US-based online real estate service Move Inc and their subsidiary software arm Realsuite recently released their report “Shift Happens: How to capture, communicate and close in…
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