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Victoria-based agency Barry Plant will expand its South Australian and regional Victorian presence in the next 12 months, as the firm looks to capitalise on more solid sales volumes and investment yields outside the Melbourne market.
Barry Plant chief executive Mike McCarthy told Real Estate Business that the group was in discussions to increase its office numbers around Adelaide after a successful initial foray into the South Australian market.
“We’re in discussions with some opportunities in Adelaide — we have one office there and we’re looking to grow around that,” Mr McCarthy said.
“We’ve had discussions with a few different people there and we’re very hopeful that we can expand our Adelaide network this year.”
Mr McCarthy said Victorian regions such as Shepparton were also a key area of focus for the group, with its urban client base now looking outside of Melbourne for better yielding investment opportunities.
“We’ve had significant success in the past financial year in north-east Victoria, so we’re keen to fill out that area and build out the regional centres we’ve got,” he said.
“If you look at the regions, the data has shown a lot of those areas have retained their sales volumes and prices in many cases, so there are significant opportunities for investors looking for high returns with less risk.
“We are managing about 35,000 properties in Melbourne, so there are a lot of landlords looking for opportunities, and we think there is some synergy there for the regional offices if they are dealing with a recognised brand from Melbourne who is already managing property for them.”
Mr McCarthy added that the agency would look to roll out a new technology platform to automate a significant portion of its property management function and bring efficiencies to this sizeable part of the business.
“We are working closely with a software provider and are about to start trials in two offices, one with 1,400 properties under management and one with 500,” he said.
“The introduction of that technology will provide a number of benefits: a more automated service to landlords, taking out some of the drudgery in the property manager role, and providing greater returns for franchisees in an area that is critical for the business given the downturn in sales.”
