Harcourts International

Harcourts is a global  Australasian real estate company established in 1888 in Wellington, New Zealand by John Bateman Harcourt. Harcourts operates in 11 countries with 908 offices.

History
John Bateman Harcourt established the Harcourts real estate company in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1888. From 1874 John had been a partner in the merchant partnership A. P. Stuart & Co., which he bought out in 1879.

Initially, Harcourts focused on the sale of city property, as well as country, seaside, mining, farms and station properties and had a strong auction presence. In its early stages, the company introduced "The Register and Property Investors Guide", the equivalent of Bluebook. It published and circulated about 4,000 copies throughout Wellington monthly.

In 1905, John Bateman Harcourt’s sons Stanton and Gordon joined the company. In 1929, Gordon founded his own company, Gordon Harcourt Ltd, while Stanton headed Harcourt & Co. After Stanton's retirement in the 1950s,  Hec Fisher headed the company. In 1980 Harcourt & Co expanded into Auckland and announced listing on the Stock Exchange.

In 1985, the company merged with Collins Real Estate to form Harcourts Real Estate Ltd. and became one of the largest real estate companies in the country.

In 1988, Stephen Collins introduced Harcourts’ current franchise model and made Harcourts a publicly listed company. National Bank of New Zealand was one of the first shareholders. It continued to purchase shares, leading to the return to private ownership. The next year, Tower Corporation purchased the shares from the National Bank. Stephen Collins, in 1992, conducted a management buyout together with Paul Wright, Bob Cooper, and Jo-Anne Clifford.

In 1996 the company launched the first public searchable property database on the internet. The following year, Harcourts entered the Australian market.

In 2002, it launched Harcourts Academy, a training academy providing courses for sales, management and administration for the real estate industry, which later became an RTO (Registered Training Organisation) of which it still operates today as the Harcourts Real Estate Training Centre.

In 2008, the company launched its own charity, The Harcourts Foundation. Operating in a number of the same markets the Harcourts residential real estate brand does, The Harcourts Foundation has raised millions of dollars in support of more than 1,340 charities, something it continues with today and includes major support for organisations including Gumboot Friday, Hospice New Zealand and Beyond Blue.

In 2020, Harcourts undertook a global re-brand that included a new logo, brand colours, fonts and overall office and brand presentation design. This re-brand coincided with the launch of ‘Find where you belong’ as their global brand position under the umbrella of ‘Your, Our’ Harcourts.

In 2024, Harcourts completed the network-wide, global rollout of its new brand position: “We make it possible.”

International expansion
Harcourts established branches across New Zealand while simultaneously focusing on expanding into the Australian market. In 1997, former Harcourts franchise owners, Mike and Irene Green, initiated this expansion by establishing a presence in Australia. Within a few years, Harcourts successfully opened offices in all six Australian states, becoming one of the fastest-growing real estate companies in Australasia. Mike Green, during his tenure as Managing Director from 2009 to 2019, contributed to the company's international development. Since Mike and Paul Wright assumed leadership in 1999, Harcourts has continued its international expansion, now setting up over 900 offices worldwide.

Franchising
Stephen Collins introduced the current franchise model in 1988 when Harcourts celebrated its centenary. Harcourts operates a full-service real-estate franchise model which covers residential, commercial, rural, urban projects and property management. Harcourts also operates mortgage booking with the Mortgage Express business, across New Zealand and Australia. Harcourts offers franchise opportunities supported by training programs, support systems, complete software management, and nationwide promotional campaigns. Franchise owners can access mentoring through a network of over 780 offices worldwide.

Operations
Harcourts operates an international support and development team consisting of directors, finance, marketing, technology, training, franchise development, and value-added services. Each market where the brand operates has an on-the-ground support team to deliver these products, services, and assistance to Harcourts franchisees.

Headquartered in Auckland, Harcourts has 8,500 real estate professionals across 908 office locations. In 2023, Harcourts transacted $50 billion worth of property and as of 2024, it has $58.8 billion worth of property under management. Harcourts' average sales consultant star rating is 4.7/5, and its client Net Promoter Score is 70.0. Additionally, Harcourts' brand awareness and consideration rate is 85%. The company manages over 106,000 properties. It facilitated the settlement of $1.2 billion in home loans through its finance partners.

Brands
The company operates several brands, including Harcourts (residential sales and property management), NAI Harcourts (commercial sales and property investment management specialists), Nutrien Harcourts (rural regional sales and property management specialists), Mortgage Express (financial services) and Harcourts Foundation (the charitable arm of Harcourts). The Harcourts Academy provides courses for sales, management and administration for the real estate industry, which later became.

International presence
The company has 908 offices in 11 countries, including New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, the UAE, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia, Canada, and the United States.