A South Australian real estate legend has been crowned the nation’s best residential salesperson, and another two South Aussies inducted into the Hall of Fame – one in a historic first – at the nation’s most prestigious property awards.

Klemich Real Estate’s Matt Smith was last night named residential salesperson of the year at the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s National Awards for Excellence – an annual event recognising the highest-performing individuals and agencies across the country.

Held this year at Adelaide Oval in South Australia, the event saw seven awards go to South Australian individuals or agencies, and the only two Hall of Fame inductions for the evening go to locals – Harris Real Estate for winning large residential agency of the year for three consecutive years (2022-24), and Nikki Katz for business broker of the year for the same years.

Ms Katz has, in fact, won the award five times now.

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“This Hall of Fame award means so much to me,” Ms Katz says.

“It is a symbol of more than just success – it marks a shift in who leads, who innovates, and who defines the future of business broking in Australia.”

REIA President, Leanne Pilkington said Ms Katz’s induction into the REIA hall of fame was a landmark moment for the industry.

“Nikki’s success demonstrates the power of challenging convention, and she now stands as an inspiration for the next generation of leaders – especially women – across the real estate and business sectors,” she said.

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Ms Pilkington said the calibre of competition was the strongest she had seen it.

“These awards celebrate the very best in our profession – those setting the benchmark nationally,” Ms Pilkington said.

“It’s a testament to the strength and diversity of the real estate industry across Australia.”

Real Estate Institute of South Australia chief executive Andrea Heading said the awards were a clear indication the industry is heading in the right direction.

“They acknowledge and celebrate everything that is good about the real estate profession,” she said.

“Everyone here last night – all the finalists and winners – are worthy ambassadors for the entire profession.”

New Zealand proved to be the country to beat when it comes to auction talent, with the winners of both categories of the Australasian Auctioneering Championships – which was held over the past two days – both coming from the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Mark McGoldrick was crowned the overall winner, with Tama Emery taking out the Novice Championships.

Chief judge Matt Smith said the calibre of the field was outstanding, with the New Zealanders showing they were the clear leaders when it comes to the art of auctioneering.

“They set the standard and are so very good at what they do and they are just phenomenal in their numbering.

“Beating them – that will be the challenge ahead but we’ll certainly be there trying our best.”

REIA NATIONAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE WINNERS:

Achievement Award

Sam Harris, Centurion Real Estate, WA

Business Broker of the Year

Chris Swifte, Australian Pharmacy Sales, VIC

Business Development Manager of the Year

Kylie Davie, Downton Property, TAS

Buyers Agent of the Year

Tonya Davidson, Davidson Property Advocates, VIC

Commercial Agency of the Year

Martin Morris and Jones, MMJ Real Estate, NSW

Commercial Property Manager of the Year

Vaughan Copping, Perth Property Management, WA

Commercial Salesperson of the Year

Michael Ceacis, Canberra Commercial, ACT

Community Service Award

LJ Hooker Adelaide – Metro, SA

Innovation Award

Network Pacific, VIC

Large Residential Agency of the Year

Ouwens Casserly Real Estate, SA

Marketer of the Year

Fiona Yang, Plus Agency, NSW

Marketing and Communications Award

Toop + Toop, SA

Medium Residential Agency of the Year

Blackshaw Queanbeyan & Jerrabomberra, ACT

Operational Leadership Award

Stephen Briffa, Network Pacific, VIC

Operational Support Award

Sarah King, Capital Buyers Agency, ACT

Operational Support Award

Merina Caputo, Ouwens Casserly Rentals SA

REIA President’s Award

Hayden Groves, Ray White Dethridge Groves, WA

Residential Property Management Team of the Year

Blackburne Property Management, WA

Residential Property Manager of the Year

Lillian Dobson, Elders Top End Group, NT

Residential Sales Team of the Year

Realestate 88, WA

Residential Salesperson of the Year

Matt Smith, Klemich Real Estate, SA

Small Residential Agency of the Year

Taarnby, SA

Sustainability Leadership Award – Agency

Taarnby, SA

Sustainability Leadership Award – Individual

Sasha Trpkovski, Archer Canberra, ACT

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Large Residential Agency of the Year

Harris Real Estate, SA

Business Broker of the Year

Nikki Katz, SA

– Results courtesy of REIA.

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There is no doubt that CoStar Group threw everything it had into the 2024 launch of the revamped Homes.com. From Super Bowl ads that were part of the firm’s $1 billion marketing spend, to a reallocation of nearly all of its sales staff, Homes.com debuted with a bang.

And then things kind of fizzled. 

Now, roughly 15 months later, two of its hedge fund investors, D.E. Shaw & Co. and Third Point Investors Ltd., have made it clear that things need to change. 

“Despite the continued strength of its core business, we believe recent capital allocation decisions have derailed CoStar’s compounding algorithm,” according to a recent investor letter from Third Point. “Over the past five years, management has increasingly focused on leveraging CoStar’s dominance in commercial real estate (CRE) to expand into residential real estate (RRE).”

Third Point estimates that CoStar will have cumulatively spent more than $3 billion on its residential goals by the end of this year.

“This investment has yet to generate meaningful revenue,” the letter states. “Expanding losses at Homes.com have obscured rapid growth in the core business and reduced consolidated EBITDA by approximately 80%.”

The letter also notes that after two decades of compounding at an internal rate of return of roughly 25%, CoStar Group’s stock has remained flat for more than five years. 

“After several years of uncertainty, we believe it is time for CoStar to begin the journey of meaningful self-help,” the letter states. 

‘Activist’ investors

As part of this journey, at the behest of both Third Point and D.E. Shaw, CoStar underwent a leadership shakeup by adding John Berisford, Rachel Glaser and Christine McCarthy to its board. The new members replaced Michael Klein, Christopher Nassetta and Laura Kaplan, who all retired. 

Additionally, CoStar established a capital allocation committee, which will review CoStar’s capital structure and financial targets. The committee, which includes Berisford, Glaser, McCarthy and CoStar CEO Andy Florance, will also be tasked with overseeing the Homes.com investment and profitability timeline. 

According to equities analysts Ryan Tomasello of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and John Campbell of Stephens, it’s not unheard of for investors to take active roles if they’re unhappy with how things are going.

“It is certainly not uncommon in the public market,” Tomasello said. “I would say on the magnitude of aggression, this is not necessarily at this point an overly aggressive, hostile campaign. It seems like there was a very amicable discussion between these activist investors and management, but that doesn’t mean that things couldn’t get more aggressive depending on how things play out over the next year.”

Tomasello believes that the investors are very much interested in the success of Homes.com, and that the pressure being exerted by D.E. Shaw and Third Point is tied to the views of the broader shareholder base.

“There is this view that Andy has had kind of unbridled discretion on just pouring gasoline and burning cash on this initiative without many checks and balances,” he said. “This activist campaign is about putting those checks and balances in place, and putting some more definitive guardrails and mile markers in place for management and the board to better grade their progress on this initiative.”

Crunching the numbers

Despite CoStar reporting a net loss of $15 million in first-quarter 2025, even as its revenue rose 12% annually to $732 million, analysts feel that CoStar and Homes.com are headed toward a turning point.

“In Q1, their core bookings were up north of 60% from a low point of last year — that is very meaningful movement,” Campbell said. “So it is just continuing to stack that sequential improvement and I think it is so far, so good. Things seem to have improved a lot from March to April, so it feels like a reboot to some extent.”

When Homes.com first launched, it had only 41 dedicated sales professionals, so CoStar temporarily sent all of its sales force to Homes.com. At the end of Q1 2025, Florance said Homes.com had a dedicated sales team of 370 representatives and that the brand was on track to have 500 reps by the end of June. 

“Their core commercial business last year, on the back of this big debut of Homes.com, suffered some cannibalization, but this year that business is regaining momentum as the company takes a bit more balance on where it’s focusing,” Tomasello said. 

Campbell added that the successful sale of many of CoStar’s products requires a cultivation and sales pipeline with time to win business.

“If you take your eye off the ball for a period of time like they did, then there is going to be a period of catch-up, but I feel like that has now cleared,” he said. 

Both analysts expect CoStar’s financial and stock performances to improve in the coming months. Supporting this belief is the improvement of Homes.com’s unaided brand awareness. 

Who are you again?

Florance said during CoStar’s earnings call late last month that before the relaunch of the site, only 4% of Homes.com’s target audience said it was the site that was top of mind when thinking about shopping for a home. 

“In 14 months of marketing campaign, we have steadily increased our unaided awareness nine times to 36%,” Florance said. “Our unaided intention or the percentage of people surveyed that say they intend to use our site has grown from single digits to 26%. We’ve also crossed Redfin, Realtor.com and Trulia on unaided intent”

Tomasello finds these results promising.

“Of course past success isn’t indicative of future performance, but the path the company is on, that is a pretty solid pace of increasing brand awareness with consumers,” Tomasello said.

Spending money to make money

But gaining this unaided brand awareness has not been cheap.

“I think, by design, they fully intended to come out with a splash,” Campbell said. “To beat Zillow, you have to have a structurally better consumer experience. And you might have to flex your muscle on the marketing side to try to aggressively take traffic just by being notable and having paid celebrities to get people to want to try it.” 

In short, Campbell said, CoStar was hoping its initial media blitz would convince enough people to try out the site and that their positive experience in using the platform would create stickiness. 

But once unaided brand awareness surpasses the 50% threshold, Campbell believes some of that marketing spend will decrease and the company will begin to focus on other metrics, like time on site and bounce rate. 

During the recent earnings call, Florance said it will take three to five years to fully build out the brand. Achieving the level of unaided brand awareness it has in a little over a year is “excellent,” he said.

“I feel that over the next two to four years, we can take a solid and very valuable leadership position in the industry,” Florance said. “With such a wide lead over these two [Redfin and Realtor.com], we’ve shifted our traffic acquisition strategy away from pure volume to targeting quality engaged traffic.

“Our bounce rate has improved 45 percentage points. Our session duration is up 200% and the number of page visits per visit has more than doubled.”

Looking into the crystal ball

Despite the firm “burning through cash” as it invests in Homes.com while missing potential opportunities to invest in better long-term results for its core commercial business, Campbell believes CoStar is making the right choice by entering the residential space. 

“We think the opportunity is worth it because residential is such a big category and there is such a big opportunity for them,” he said. 

But he also believes CoStar is at an inflection point with Homes.com. 

“Our sense is that we are getting to the point where this could be somewhat binary, in the sense that as they decrease marketing spend, you either see bookings and growth come through and everything starts to work, or it doesn’t,” he added.

Either way, Campbell feels things are looking up as CoStar is committed to increasing its annualized savings after operating expenses ballooned over the past year.

“If they continue to reduce spend with each quarter, it is handing out that olive branch to the activist investors every single quarter. And I think by year end we are going to be looking at Homes.com investment levels being meaningfully lower,” he said.

A photo dropped anonymously in the letterbox sparked a massive 32-year restoration of a grand bluestone villa at Rostrevor.

Vendor Michael acquired “Rostrevor House’’, at 3 Lindwood St, from his parents, who bought the circa-1880 home in 1961.

It fell into disrepair after being rented out for a short time, prompting Michael to move back to his childhood home in 1992 and fix it up.

During early repair work, a black and white photo of the house in its heyday, complete with

an imposing turret, was left in his letterbox with the message: “It’s nice to see someone finally restoring this beautiful old place’’.

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“I didn’t know who dropped it in my letterbox – they never made contact (again) – but I could finally see what the turret had looked like and that there were nine steps at the front (entry) which I couldn’t see (anymore),’’ said Michael, a civil engineer.

“I ran out with a picket shovel and started digging the front up and a step appeared and then another and another.

“I started uncovering all that and all of a sudden I had a project on my hands.

“I just thought I’ve got to unmask this and bring it back to how it was.’’

Along with restoring the front entry and replacing the original turret, which was dismantled by his parents after it became unsafe, Michael set about creating a light-filled open-plan extension at the rear, with a fully-equipped chef’s kitchen and casual dining and living spaces.

The original home, which has hit the market, now boasts a formal living area and up to five king-sized bedrooms, including an impressive upstairs master bedroom with a walk-in robe and ensuite and a spacious retreat that occupies the turret and overlooks the sprawling front garden.

There’s also an original cellar and new entertainer’s terrace, swimming pool and pavilion, as well as garaging for six vehicles.

“I’m still working but I’ve probably put in two days a week on this house since I bought it from mum and dad and that’s just my own time – I always did the grunt work but I got professionals in to help me,’’ Michael said.

“I’ve kept all the architectural details (in the original home) and made sure everything is as close as it could be to how it looked in that photo.’’

Michael, who lives alone, said it was now time to let another family enjoy the home, recalling happy childhood memories spent playing hide-and-seek.

“It’s not like just hiding behind a couch,’’ he said.

“You would lose a friend or a cousin for a couple of hours here because the place is so big.’’ In more recent times, Michael said the expansive 1440sqm property has played host to 130 people for his dad’s 80th birthday, as well as countless Christmases and other celebrations.

“You don’t have to worry about noise (because of the distance of neighbours),’’ he said.

“I’ve had the guys over many times to watch the (sporting) grand finals and it’s just an instant party.’’

He said the house was also perfect for quieter times.

“Just to go into the turret and look out – I will definitely miss that. And also sitting in the big (grand living) room playing my guitar.

“I’ve been the king of the castle here.’’

Offers for the home, which is listed without a price guide with Williams Real Estate, close on Tuesday, May 27, unless sold prior.

– by Lauren Ahwan

The post Rostrevor House hits the market after impressive restoration appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Retired AFL Sydney Swans premiership coach John Longmire and wife Shelley have quietly sold their Malabar home.

He’s not heading interstate for another coaching role, but rather opting to stay in the small coastal suburb they’ve been living in since 2011.

The couple have secured their third home in Malabar, spending $3.6m on a renovation or rebuilding project that overlooks The Coast Golf Course.

The vendors built the four-bedroom, one-bathroom single-storey brick home in the mid-1970s on its 510 sqm holding.

NG Farah Malabar agent Conor Howard sold the Waddell family home, marketing it as ranking as one of the first built on the dress circle Malabar Heights position.

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“The home offers comfortable living now while presenting scope to add further value with a luxury new coastal design,” the sales marketing advised.

Malabar’s median house price sits at $3.41m, up over 20 per cent in the past year – based on 31 sales, according to PropTrack.

The couple’s current three-level home with ocean views has been sold on undisclosed settlement terms. It cost $3,712,500 in 2018.

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The couple paid $1.7m for their first Malabar house in 2011, shortly after Longmire was given the top coaching job, taking over from Paul Roos. It was sold in 2018 for $2,725,000.

Having played with the North Melbourne Kangaroos, he took up an assistant coaching position in 2002 at the Swans.

Longmire, who works as an administrator at the Swans, was ranked last month by The Hobart Mercury as on a “top-shelf list of potential coaches” to take the Tasmania Devils into their inaugural season in 2028.

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Longmire is from the NSW-Victoria border town Corowa and his wife Shelley is from nearby Mulwala.

The post Sydney Swans premiership winning coach John Longmire sells Malabar home appeared first on realestate.com.au.

In recognition of the cohort’s size and contribution to the state, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation is aiming to offer tips to older residents to make it easier for them to age in place in their own homes.

According to a 2024 report from the Alaska Commission on Aging, the state is home to more than 160,000 residents at or over the age of 60 representing 21% of the state’s total population. Between 2010 and 2024, this share of the population has grown by 77%, an increase which stretched across all of the state’s regions, the report found.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) also recently recognized the contributions of older Alaskans in his declaration recognizing Older Americans Month at the beginning of May.

“Alaska’s older people are esteemed members of our society, and their wealth of knowledge, practical wisdom, and vast experiences can be effectively shared through interactions with family, friends, and neighbors across generations which enrich the lives of everyone involved,” the governor said. “Alaska is committed to maintaining safe and healthy environments, providing access to important services, and ensuring individual choices for older Alaskans.”

To that end, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation recognized in public statements recently that older Americans increasingly prefer to age in place in their own homes. Jim McCall, the organization’s housing relations officer, described how important he has seen aging in place to be among the older residents he has served.

But success often requires home modifications, he explained.

“After working with older Alaskans for over two decades, one of the most common regrets I hear is waiting too long to make home modifications,” McCall said in a statement. “By the time seniors realize they need grab bars, better lighting, step-free entrances, lever door handles or non-slip flooring, it’s often after a fall or similar scare. Aging in place successfully is about creating a living space that works with you, not against you, as needs evolve.”

To that end, the publicly owned company offers perspectives on several do-it-yourself projects that can make a difference as people seek to age in place. These can include adding motion-activated lights to illuminate space being navigated in the dark; swapping a tall bed frame for one closer to the ground to make it easier to get in and out of bed; and exchanging door knobs for levers to reduce stress on wrists.

Larger-scale renovations can also be helpful including adding handrails or bars in a bathroom or hallways; smoothing flooring to reduce the potential for falls; and accessibility renovations like roll-in tubs or widening doorways to accommodate wheelchairs.