Staff Reporter
A soft property market has not been able to dampen the sales activity at McGrath Estate Agents.
The company is currently up 14 per cent on the previous year, recording $5.7 billion in residential sales for the 12 months ending June 30, 2011 from 5,993 properties.
This compared to the corresponding FY10 of $5.0 billion from 5,095 properties and $3.25 billion from 3,485 properties in FY09.
McGrath Eastern Suburbs led the way with $1.21 billion from 1,035 sales.
The company’s chief executive John McGrath said the results were outstanding given the current market conditions.
“We believe irrespective of market and economic conditions, good agents can deliver the right results for their customers. The past 12 months has been somewhat of a roller coaster in the residential sector with many locations experiencing their toughest conditions for many years, however, I believe our results indicate that good sales can still be made in less certain times. If you price listings correctly and market them strongly utilising all available sales channels, results will flow,” he said.
The sales for the group were diverse in price segments with 1,393 sales above $1 million, and 375 sales above $2 million. The company recorded 40 sales above $5 million.
“The top end of the market has been most challenging but we have still delivered some extremely strong results for properties above $5 million. The demand is not as strong as we have seen in recent years but sales are still being made. The market appears to me to be waiting for a bit more good news and evidence that the worst of the economic woes are behind us. I suspect when it is convinced of that we will see strong growth in the short term as the market turns.”