132 | PROPERTY Barfoot & Thompson T T Nicki Woodlock Another big year for property leader Barfoot & Thompson Manangaing Director Peter Thompson: “The market always bounces back. Interest rates have been coming down. “ “We are a New Zealand family-owned company. All of our branches are owned by the business. Our people can sell all over Auckland—whereas competitors’ franchises are limited mostly by where their region is”. Barfoot & Thompson has celebrated major success at the 2025 REINZ Awards for Excellence, taking home six awards across residential property management, community, residential sales, and agency categories. In total, 46 awards were presented to real estate agencies and individuals nationwide, recognising and celebrating outstanding achievement in the industry. Among the wins were Residential Property Management Office of the Year – Small for Barfoot & Thompson Swanson, the Community Service Award – Large for Barfoot & Thompson, and Agency of the Year (All Disciplines) – Large for Barfoot & Thompson. Barfoot & Thompson dominated the Residential Office of the Year – Sales Volume category, taking out wins across all sub-categories: Small – Barfoot & Thompson Glendene, Medium – Barfoot & Thompson Millwater, and Large – Barfoot & Thompson Howick. Founded in 1923, Barfoot & Thompson has been a privately owned family business for over a century. Led by Managing Director Peter Thompson alongside directors Stephen and Henry Barfoot, the company serves the Upper North Island through more than 80 centrally owned branches and over 1,800 salespeople across Auckland, Northland, Bay of Plenty, and the Waikato. Demonstrating ongoing growth, four new branches have opened in the Bay of Plenty region in the past two years. Peter Thompson began his career in 1981 in the rental division at Barfoot & Thompson’s Otahuhu branch and progressed through various roles before being appointed a director in 1997, later becoming Managing Director in 2005. He is the grandson of Maurice Thompson, the original Thompson in the Barfoot & Thompson team that founded the business in the early 1920s. Barfoot & Thompson operates one of New Zealand’s largest property management divisions and provides a wide range of services, including residential and rural property sales; commercial sales and leasing; management of residential and commercial rentals; new real estate project developments; and body corporate services. The business primarily focuses on residential property sales, holding a 40% plus market share in Auckland. Property management accounts for approximately 25% of operations, while commercial sales make up approximately 15%. The Barfoot & Thompson company values are; community, people, family and diversity. Demonstrating their ‘community’ value by giving back to the community is important to the owners, who contribute over $3 million annually through sports sponsorships, industry related events, arts and cultural partnerships, and charity and community partnerships. Notable sponsorships include; Starship Foundation, Mercy Hospice, Farmers Santa Parade, Blues Rugby, Mystics Netball, The ASB Classic Tennis Tournament, Auckland Writers Festival, and many more. Reflecting their ‘people’ value, Barfoot & Thompson invest heavily in staff development, providing all their salespeople with comprehensive real estate sales and management training. Regarding what differentiates Barfoot & Thompson from competitors, Peter says: “We are a New Zealand family-owned company. All of our branches are owned by the business. Our people can sell all over Auckland—whereas competitors’ franchises are limited mostly by where their region is”. On the state of the current real estate market in New Zealand, Peter believes that the market is on the rise. “The real estate industry is a very cyclical industry. The market always bounces back. Interest rates have been coming down. “We expect better days ahead over the next 12 months. We’re well ahead of the 2019 market already. It’s back into a normal real estate cycle”.
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