Firming up: Frankton Real Estate’s Kath Cruickshank with Ray White realtors (from left) Richard Newman, Gavin Castles, Cameron Reed and Bas Smith
A Wakatipu real estate company has made a major push into Frankton – taking over five-year-old Frankton Real Estate.
Ray White Queenstown co-owners Bas Smith, Gavin Castles and Cameron Reed – who recently joined forces with Ray White Arrowtown principal Richard Newman to form Lakes Realty – have bought Frankton Real Estate. The official takeover happens today.
Asked why they made the purchase, Reed replies: “Expansion through consolidation.”
Newman, who estimates his branch has 70 per cent of the Arrowtown market, says: “Frankton is the new centre of Queenstown.”
Worst for a decade
Fewer Wakatipu dwellings sold in May than in any other month since December 2000, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures show.
Just 23 dwellings – 20 houses and three apartments – changed hands, local REINZ spokesperson Adrian Snow says.
That’s almost half the 45 sold in May 2009.
This is “abnormally low” and took realtors by surprise, Snow adds. The average sale price of $572,500 is a big increase on the $500,000 from the same month last year – but Snow warns this May’s average was pushed up by six $1 million-plus deals.
Sections are the only bright spot, he says, with 13 sites selling this May against nine last May.
Smith claims Ray White Queenstown averaged 17 per cent of Queenstown sales in the past year and says the new branch gives their listings wider exposure, adding to good penetration elsewhere.
“We see ourselves as market leader in years to come,” Smith adds.
Smith says he, Castles and Reed looked long and hard at Frankton.
They always felt the first major property brand to put up its shingle there would be streets ahead of everyone else, Smith says.
Counting Remarkables Park, Jack’s Point, Kawarau Falls, Kelvin Heights, and possibly Five Mile, the wider Frankton area could be the biggest property growth story in the Wakatipu, the Ray White boys reckon.
Frankton Real Estate seller Kath Cruickshank says the omens are good.
Not only is Ray White the first national realty brand to open a branch in Frankton, her agency already has more Frankton listings than any other firm, she claims.
Frankton Real Estate is the third agency Cruickshank, 62, has set up, opening her first in Gore before being part of the Queenstown launch of Southern Lakes Real Estate, now Hoamz.
Arrowtown property is well and truly in Newman’s blood too, with his father a prominent agent for many years.
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