The local real estate market continues to soften from its heady days of excess, and yet Barfoot & Thompson are still buoyant about the Auckland market, reasoning that lower prices are driving a greater volume of sales.
A long-term view of the market is natural for the Thompson family, who have been in real estate since the 1930. Barfoot & Thompson was honoured at the International Property Awards in London last year with the title of Best Real Estate Company in the World and gained a host of other awards, capping a remarkably successful moment in the international real estate spotlight.
The Barfoot & Thompson name stretches back to 1940 although the Thompson family was involved in real estate even earlier. Maurice Thompson jumped onboard with the Barfoot brothers in 1934, heralding the start of what would be a highly successful and lucrative exercise.
Barfoot & Thompson has always stuck to the Auckland and Northland property market. It has 65 residential and commercial branches in the area.
Last year it won the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) Large Agency of the Year award, marking the seventh consecutive time it had done so. It is the only company to have won the award since its inception. It also won in several other categories, including residential salesperson of the year, community service, small and large residential office of the year and small residential property management.
The company has maintained strong links to the original families, with Peter Thompson – grandson of Maurice Thompson –serving on the board.
Barfoot & Thompson supports a range of community and sporting projects in the Auckland region. Most prominent is the Starship Foundation, for which it’s raised more than $2.5 million since 2003. It also sponsors the Blues, Auckland and North Harbour rugby teams, the Mystics netball team, Netball North Harbour, Auckland Cup Day and the Auckland Half Marathon.
2018: $95 million