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Christie’s International Real Estate has long been viewed as a classic luxury brand in the industry. After the firm was acquired by @properties at the end of 2021, it received a boost from the brokerage’s proprietary technology and owners with boots-on-the-ground industry experience.
More recently, the international network has made more technology upgrades, like adding @properties’ new business planning and productivity tool, Pipeline, to its suite, which allows agents to track and manage business throughout the transaction cycle and measure it against their individual goals.
Christie’s International Real Estate has also moved into strategic markets internationally in recent months, including Singapore, Vietnam and Madrid, strengthening the company’s international network further.
In September, Inman sat down with a few of the luxury brand’s leaders — Co-CEO Thad Wong, President of Affiliate Services Natalie Hamrick and President of Affiliate Strategy Kevin Van Eck — to discuss the firm’s strategy in the coming year, as well as get the leaders’ takes on some of today’s most pressing issues, including industry practice changes and the future of the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy.
Here’s what they had to say, edited for brevity and clarity.
Inman: What kind of impact do you think the recent drop in rates will have on the market? What other market challenges do you feel agents are having to deal with most right now?
Kevin Van Eck: Demand continues to outweigh supply, and we’ve been talking for years now about how the U.S. is underbuilt in terms of number of units and homes available for the population, and we don’t see that ending. What we think with the rate drop over the next couple of months is that any increase in supply is going to be met with equal or overwhelming demand. So we’re going to see that continued pressure on low inventory.
How do you feel Christie’s Real Estate agents are adapting to the new industry practice changes that went into effect in August?
Natalie Hamrick: I don’t think the settlement has really changed our approach or what we deliver. But it has changed the perspective of broker-owners in terms of the importance of delivering value, and that’s where we really shine because we are really able to hone in on what value means to those owners, the agents and even the clients with our partnership with Christie’s auction house and our value proposition and suite of services.
So that’s what we’re extra-focused on right now.
We’re just doubling down on making sure that our agents understand how to talk about their value and what we deliver and how we can be helpful in that area. The most common complaint we hear from brokerages who are thinking about coming over to Christie’s International Real Estate has been the lack of service. So that’s what we’re constantly focused on especially in light of all these changes — kind of a maniacal focus on service, if you will.
Van Eck: And that service piece, just to echo that, is really what led to our brokerages and our affiliates being prepared. I think that’s the differentiator in what we’ve seen with the changes, is that our affiliates, because of Christie’s International Real Estate, but even more so because of the affiliates we’ve chosen — we’ve partnered with, when I say the ‘right affiliates,’ I mean the ones that are professional, the ones that already provide value for their agents, they were the ones that were prepared when we saw other brokerages in the marketplace where broker-owners had their head in the sand or weren’t even aware of what changes were coming to be able to communicate them to our agents.
So we’re very proud of our affiliates because we felt like they were more prepared than anyone else in their marketplaces, and we’re seeing that now post-settlement where agents are feeling more confident in the service our teams provide when it comes to our proprietary courses, like ‘Getting What You’re Worth,’ or using our proprietary tools like the digital listing presentation, digital buyer presentation, etc., to convey the value from the very first conversation they have with their client.
Another big change potentially on the horizon is some kind of shake-up to the Clear Cooperation Policy. How do you all feel about it at Christie’s International Real Estate, and why?
Hamrick: We’re kind of in that camp of in the middle in the sense that we kind of get it both ways. Our business is built on relationships and cooperation, so we understand the issue from the point of view of the small startup brokerages, which are very much in our network, from the perspective of large brokerages with leading market share in multiple marketplaces, which, of course, are also in our network.
Generally, we support the concept of Clear Cooperation, but we also understand that there are situations where a client’s wants or needs can diverge from the policy and there should be more leeway in addressing those situations. So we see no reason why the Realtor community cannot work to refine the policy in such a way that protects consumers, but we also want to safeguard fair housing and create open competition and address the needs for privacy and discretion that the clients are also asking for and deserve.
So in an ideal world, you see just some adjustments being made to the policy?
Hamrick: Yes, some leeway, some thought put behind that.
Another timely topic that is on everyone’s minds now is the upcoming election. How do you feel like that might or might not impact the market in the next few months, and Christie’s agents specifically?
Thad Wong: Historically, there has not been an impact on home sales when it comes to presidential elections. There is usually a 5 percent slow down during the election period, then consequently, there is less of an impact. There are a couple caveats: One, the tax credit after the middle of the Great Recession when Obama restarted home sales after they had been stalled, and then currently, an interesting thing is that for the first time in a long time, the tax credit is being proposed by one candidate for first-time homebuyers and a commitment without detail to build three million homes, knowing that there’s a shortage of homes.
So I would say that piece of it makes this election a little bit different than those in the past.
I see.
Wong: Homeownership, the prices of homes, interest rates and tax credits are now a central theme, but one candidate is actually committed to creating a tax credit around being a first-time homebuyer or having a family member … there’s a lot of ways to become a first-time homebuyer. If you have someone in your family that hasn’t purchased a home before, etc., the details of her policy are pretty robust and there will be a lot of money put into spurring and helping housing and affordability. I think the theory is if supply opens up, since we had two years of quite a constrained market, that we shouldn’t see what would be a natural occurrence, which would be inflated prices. We very well could, but at the end of the day, it should be a pretty big prop for homebuying.
Something else I wanted to ask about is the Christie’s International Real Estate agent summit, which took place this past summer. What kind of big themes stuck out to you at this year’s event?
Van Eck: The big focus was building confidence in agents. Agents have felt somewhat under attack this year and the last part of last year. And so it was doing a couple of things: Number one, it was making sure that they knew they were in a noble a noble profession, and that what they do is important, and they’re core to the fabric of life.
The second piece was making sure that they understood how to communicate what is happening in the market. And before that actually, it’s about being able to communicate value. Part of that is being to articulate what’s happening in the market. The other piece is being able to articulate the specific, individual, unique things that they do that create experiences for their clients and create results for their clients.
And all of this scrutiny on the industry in the last year has really made agents think more about the value their brokerage can bring to them as well. We briefly touched on this earlier, but what kind of value does Christie’s International Real Estate bring to agents?
Hamrick: I feel like we’ve attracted a whole new group of agents and owners too, who understand how important it is now more than ever to be aligned with a luxury brand, and why that brand should be Christie’s International Real Estate. So owners like Aaron Kirman in Los Angeles, Ben Fisher and Sam Cubis in Park City, we’ve seen Alex Irrer and Eric Walstrom in Detroit just completely dominate market share and grow through really leaning in on what we’re offering, which is an entire suite of services and infrastructure to run the brokerage, kind of wrapped in this luxury international brand, which is something that they’re all looking for.
So we’re continuing to grow in that strategic way and provide them with innovative marketing and the entire suite of services they need to continue to attract agents who are looking for a forward-thinking, yet historic brand with international presence.
Wong: That is a big piece of it. Prior to us, when you look at other franchises, whether it’s a Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s — most are owned by Anywhere, some are owned by Berkshire — but rarely are you meeting or speaking with people who have actually built a brokerage company and had real estate sales experience, that also Natalie talked about with the technology, but a roadmap for training and coaching, a roadmap for culture. I don’t want to call it a luxury brokerage in a box, but it definitely is like a super-powered starter kit.
So if you have a high-powered agent that does a significant block of business and has a stellar reputation and then a strong following, and then you plug into Christie’s real estate, it’s like putting a brand on the car. If you drive around the car, the minute you put a Range Rover brand on it, it becomes very expensive. That’s kind of like the piece the brand gives.
But then I would talk about the culture, training and coaching and technology that piece of it, if I had that direction 24 years ago, who knows where we would be. But being able to consult with leadership who have actually done it, that’s a true gift.
Thinking more about the geographical breadth of the Christie’s International Real Estate network, are there any up-and-coming markets you’ve got your eyes on for 2025?
Hamrick: We have our eyes on several markets, both here in the Americas, and abroad in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Here in the Americas, we’re really focused on emerging luxury markets. We have several big announcements in areas where the auction house wants us to be or where we need to be for the network to continue to grow. We can’t name them just yet, but we’re very excited about them. Eric, do you want to talk about EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa]?
Van Eck: Sure. In Europe and the Middle East we’re expanding heavily. And then we have a large focus on Asia as well and the Asia Pacific.
If we’re talking about Europe specifically, there’s a big focus for us right now and a lot of opportunity in the Balkans, in Albania, Serbia, Croatia, and so we’ll have some announcements coming there.
And then you’ve seen our expansion also, where we have affiliates. When we talk about growth, it’s not just about adding affiliates, it’s also about supporting our affiliates and growing geographically within the same region. So with that, we see a lot of opportunity there, as the strength of the U.S. dollar fluctuates a little bit.
We were seeing at the middle to the end of last year a lot of movement from the states to Europe, and that’s all in the annual report that we put out, which we’re writing now going into 2025 for the new year.
The other opportunity I mentioned, the Middle East, our partner in Dubai has just expanded — we’re going to be the first luxury brand in a significant Middle Eastern country. Coming up the end of this year, an announcement will be made.
And then in Asia too, it’s really interesting. In countries where we haven’t seen in the past, historically, a lot of wealth and wealth movement, countries like Vietnam, where we expanded recently, they are now a major player in our network as buyers and sellers coming out of Asia are looking to purchase on the United States coast and also in Canada and Mexico.
Exciting stuff. Any other developments you’d like to share?
Van Eck: One thing we’re really excited about, from a marketing standpoint, is the Christie’s International Real Estate magazine. And so, you know, for years people have been saying that print is dead, and you’re seeing journalism and some other things [see] some pressure there with print magazines. For us, it’s actually been a huge win, and it’s for a few reasons. The magazine isn’t like a typical real estate magazine. It’s not all listings. There is heavy lifestyle content that highlights where high-net-worth individuals and ultra-high-net-worth individuals will want to live, move or currently live, and so we get huge readership. And the key point with that is that the magazine is distributed also not only to all of our affiliates, agents, clients, but also to Christie’s Auction House clientele. And that’s the win, where we’re able to directly connect with ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals through the Auction House.
I’m glad to hear some print material is still thriving. Any last thoughts?
Hamrick: We’re really excited about 2025. We’re going to continue to grow in a strategic way — that’s extremely important to us, not just growing for growth’s sake, but it’s more about relationships and the right organic growth to create the strongest network and strongest brand long-term. So just really looking into the future of how we can set this network up to have the top independent brokerages in the world join us. We’re really proud about what we’ve done thus far.
Since the acquisition, we’ve launched in 59 markets around the world, and that includes 31 new affiliates, so we continue to make sure this network is the strongest it can be. That includes honing in on what those differentiators are, not only for broker-owners but for those agents, whether they’re able to give their clients access that they wouldn’t otherwise have or relationships or a tool needed to create that higher level of service … we’re just going to hone in on that more and make sure that agents have everything they need to sell more real estate successfully.
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