| 115 PROPERTY Country & Co Realty We are proud to support Country & Co Realty Rural Team, Partners Gore - Invercargill - Winton Ph: 03 2111370 From paddock to paperwork - we’ve got your back. Invercargill, Winton, Wyndham & Te Anau www.prlaw.co.nz T T Kelly Deeks Rural real estate with a difference Country & Co has grown into a team of seven rural agents covering Southland and extending into West/South Otago. A decade after setting out to do rural real estate differently, Country & Co Realty is continuing to prove the strength of its predominately locally owned, team-based model, with the Southland business again a winner in the 2026 REINZ Awards. Established in 2016, Country & Co has grown into a team of seven rural agents covering Southland and extending into West/ South Otago. The company has built its reputation around keeping its agents locally based and working collectively rather than treating every property as an individual agent’s sale. Director, Matt Harrington, says that means agents share their knowledge, contacts, and potential purchasers, creating a broader pool of expertise around each property. Country & Co has won multiple REINZ awards since its establishment, including Small Rural Office of the Year in 2020 and 2021, and Medium Rural Office of the Year from 2023 through to 2025. Its latest win extends that record into 2026. The company has established a strong market presence, with Matt putting its share of sales in the Southland rural market at about 50%. He says rural real estate requires a different depth of knowledge from residential sales, because the property is also a working business and sometimes a family legacy. Agents need to understand the operation behind the land, from livestock and pasture management through to fertiliser use and the wider realities of farming, while also understanding the financial and personal considerations involved in a farm sale. “That is not like selling a house,” Matt says. “You are looking at the whole business, and you need to have specialist rural knowledge.” Country & Co was established partly in response to an ageing rural real estate sector, with the founders wanting to create a business with a point of difference and develop a new generation of agents while retaining the experience needed to serve farming clients. The team now combines that experience with younger agents, including a 25-year-old, who is performing strongly, and three agents in their mid-30s. The average age of the team is about 45. Country & Co’s local connection extends beyond property sales. The office has recently established the first Corporate Endowment Fund with the Southland Foundation, with money invested permanently and the annual returns distributed to community projects. “We know that local businesses play a role, not just in the economy, but in the longterm wellbeing of the communities they are part of,” Matt says. “We have taken a forward-thinking approach towards the wellbeing of the rural communities we live and work in, and our Country & Co Rural Community Fund will grow to support a broad range of rural initiatives and opportunities in Southland.” The fund can support everything from strengthening rural wellbeing, supporting educational capability, enhancing rural stewardship, access to essential services, and building community resilience. “This has also provided us a way of acknowledging the trust and support of our clients. “Our business exists because of those relationships, and our Rural Community Fund is one way of returning value to the wider community,” says Matt.
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