Tremains Taupō named Top Office for the first time

The Tremains Taupō team has been named Tremains' Top Office for 2021. Photo / Supplied

Domestic rugby teams have the Ranfurly Shield, Tremains real estate offices have the Top Office Cup and, for the next year, it will reside in Taupō.

Tremains Taupō has been named the 2021 Central Region Top Office, the first time the prize has made its way out of Hawke's Bay.

Tremains Taupō Real Estate sales manager Annalise Johnsen says the award means her office "did the best business" last year.

"It's for the most sales, and for the general public it means you're dealing with a very successful team. It's a very good award for our team and it means we are doing good sound business.

"It comes with a lovely cup and bragging rights. It has never ever come out of the Hawke's Bay before. They've been in the market for about 50 years, and we've been here in this market for just over three years."

Annalise says while the busy real estate market last year helped all offices, her team's auction culture was another factor that led to success.

"It wasn't just Taupō that had a good year in terms of real estate, but it certainly indicates that Taupō was bringing a lot of people to town and there were a lot of transactions where people were relocating to Taupō for its beauty, love of the region and the relaxed lifestyle that comes with it.

"What Covid-19 has done is make people realise they can work remotely, work from home, so why not live in a beautiful place like Taupō."

She says full credit must go to the entire Tremains Taupō team.

"This team has really unified, we've got a fantastic culture driven by the family values that come with Tremains."

Annalise does not expect the market to have the same frenzied feeling that it had at times last year.

"It's a very changeable market at the moment. We don't see a great deal of price reduction coming through, what we're seeing is more conditional contracts in the market at the moment, more subject to sale.

"Everything has slowed down in the sense of it is taking longer to negotiate sales, but we're still just as busy. The agents are probably working harder because there's a lot of going backwards and forwards to negotiate these deals.

"There's a lot of stock in the market at the moment and there are mixed messages. I was doing open homes yesterday and it's interesting listening to people; some are talking doom and gloom but that's not the case, it's just normal real estate; it's a more balanced market with about the same amount of stock as when I came here two years ago."

Although the market has cooled, she does not believe another global financial crisis is on the horizon.

"Buyers are transacting, banks are just imposing very long conditions in terms of finance, subject to sale. You've got to work through your contracts but that's nothing unusual, it's just normal real estate but days on market are longer.

"I know we're going to have to work harder this year and we certainly don't want to be a one-hit wonder, we want to hold on to this Top Office Cup for another year. It's as powerful as the Ranfurly Shield, in the name of real estate."