Best and worst real estate companies in 2024

This is the first time we’ve conducted our real estate agency survey, and on the back of it we’ve awarded AndCo Realty Group our inaugural real estate People’s Choice award. AndCo has agencies throughout the country with the name changing in each area, depending on who has the franchise. For example there’s Lowe & Co in Wellington, CK & Co in Hutt Valley and Winder & Co in Blenheim.

AndCo achieved a satisfaction rating of 77% – this is the percentage of survey respondents who scored it 8, 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 to 10. AndCo was rated much higher than the average real estate agency for providing timely responses, its market and legal knowledge, and its conduct being ethical, honest and open.

The real estate industry overall had a satisfaction rating of 63%. Companies that scored below the average were Sotheby’s (61%), LJ Hooker (59%), Ray White (57%) and Professionals (50%).

As you’d expect, because real estate agencies work for the vendor, buyers didn’t score the agencies as highly as the sellers. The industry satisfaction rate was 72% for sellers and 55% for buyers.

Best and worst estate agencies revealed

Satisfaction with sale price

Our market research and insights manager, Scott Moore, said many sellers found the offers they received and the eventual sale price to be below the appraisal from their agency. The price ended up lower than the appraisal for 30% of sellers and above for 20%. It was within the range given for 44% of sellers.

“First time sellers particularly noted receiving offers lower than they had expected,” Scott said.

“First-timers often enter the market with high expectations but tend to have lower confidence and leave less satisfied. They’re more likely to report issues during the process and are less satisfied with the professionalism, knowledge and communication from their agents.”

Overall, 44% said they’d encountered problems during their most recent real estate transaction with the most commons issues being poor communication (28%) and feeling pressured to make quick decisions (35%).

Real estate companies results: a closer look

AndCo Realty Group

Overall satisfaction: 77%
Survey responses: 57

AndCo scored above the average for nearly all our measures of satisfaction. Respondents rated it particularly highly for timeliness of responses and having relevant legal knowledge.

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EVES

Overall satisfaction: 72%
Survey responses: 36

EVES scored above average for all measures and beat AndCo on a couple of measures – knowledge of the property and relevant legal knowledge.

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Tremains

Overall satisfaction: 70%
Survey responses: 30

Tremains got the highest score out of all the companies for the quality of the information and the advice it provides. There was only one attribute it dipped below the average on – the clarity and accuracy of its marketing.

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Tommy’s

Overall satisfaction: 69%
Survey responses: 45

Tommy’s performed solidly across the board – scoring either above or equal to the industry average on all the attributes we asked about.

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Bayleys

Overall satisfaction: 67%
Survey responses: 178

Bayleys did well on all our measures of satisfaction and was rated the highest out of all the real estate agencies on how well its agents knew the property.

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Tall Poppy

Overall satisfaction: 65%
Survey responses: 60

Tall Poppy’s satisfaction scores put it in the middle of the results table – but it did rate highly for transparency around fees and charges.

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Property Brokers

Overall satisfaction: 65%
Survey responses: 119

Property Brokers got one of the highest scores for the quality of its advice, even beating our People’s Choice winner AndCo on this measure. It dipped slightly below the average for knowledge of the property, transparency of fees and charges, and managing expectations.

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Barfoot & Thompson

Overall satisfaction: 65%
Survey responses: 167

Barfoot & Thompson didn’t stand out for good or bad reasons – it scored near the industry average on all our measures of satisfaction.

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Harcourts

Overall satisfaction: 63%
Survey responses: 352

Harcourts was another real estate agency that scored close to the average on all our measures, either scoring just above or dipping just below.

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Mike Pero

Overall satisfaction: 63%
Survey responses: 46

Mike Pero scored well above average for some measures, particularly professionalism, timeliness of responses and transparency of fees. But it got the lowest score for explanation of the process.

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Sotheby’s

Overall satisfaction: 61%
Survey responses: 36

All of Sotheby’s satisfaction scores were below the industry averages.

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LJ Hooker

Overall satisfaction: 59%
Survey responses: 59

LJ Hooker did better than most real estate agencies on conduct and quality of advice. But it got the lowest score for timeliness of responses.

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Ray White

Overall satisfaction: 57%
Survey responses: 374

We had the most responses from people who had used Ray White, but what they told us saw the company take second to last spot in our satisfaction table. For all satisfaction attributes, Ray White scored below average.

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Professionals

Overall satisfaction: 50%
Survey responses: 62

Despite the name, Professionals got the lowest score for professionalism. It also rated lowest for most of our other attributes. Its scores for transparency of fees and charges, information provided and quality of advice were much lower than the average.

About our real estate survey data

Our data is from a survey of 1,982 Consumer NZ members and supporters carried out in February and March 2024. Respondents were asked about residential real estate transactions involving a licensed real estate professional in the past 3 years.

Satisfaction rating shows the proportion of respondents who scored their agency 8, 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied).

Ratings are shown for 14 key measures:

• Overall satisfaction
• Professionalism
• Conduct – ethical, honest and open
• Timeliness of responses
• Knowledge of the property
• Market knowledge
• Relevant legal knowledge
• Explanation of the process
• Transparency of fees and charges
• Clarity and accuracy of marketing
• Information provided
• Quality of advice
• Ease of settlement process
• Managing expectations

Only agencies that received 30 or more responses in our survey are featured in the ratings. For instance, First National, with 28 responses, did not meet the threshold and is therefore not included in the highlighted results.