Harcourts Australia is getting ready to paint the country blue, with its nationwide auction event to raise money for mental health and wellbeing charity Beyond Blue.
The second annual Blue Friday will be held on Friday, September 13, and Harcourts Australia Chief Executive Officer Adrian Knowles said the network was on track to better last year’s results.
“We’re aiming to be bigger and better than last time when we raised $90,000 for Beyond Blue and sold 360 properties,” he said.
Mr Knowles said the decision to support Beyond Blue was an easy one, with the organisation dedicated to helping Australians with all mental health conditions.
“We are hearing that youth mental health is at an all-time low at the moment,” he said.
“And for me, with three young kids, that’s something that hits home the most with me.
“But the best thing about Beyond Blue is that it does cover off on, pretty much, every mental health issue.
“So every single person in our company, and that we deal with, connects with a different part of their mission.”
Mr Knowles said properties were already being listed for auction on Blue Friday and agents and auctioneers were putting in the training and hard yards ready for the big day.
He said auction was the perfect sale method for an event such as Blue Friday as it was able to progress a property campaign irrespective of market conditions.
“This event actually works really well for all of the different markets,” Mr Knowles said.
“In Melbourne, we’re hoping to create competition but also bring more properties to market.
“It’s the same in WA and SA, we’re making sure we’re bringing more properties to market in what are three slow new listings states.
“But on the other side, where we’ve seen an 18 per cent increase in new listings, in Sydney, Tasmania and Queensland, it’s all about creating that real ‘cartwheel’ price.”
Mr Knowles said the money for Beyond Blue would be raised in three ways – donated charity items will be auctioned off on the day, agents selling the properties can give a donation, as can the vendors selling their homes.
“Some 95 per cent of agents last year gave an off the top donation, meaning they gave up whatever they indicated out of their commission,” he said.
“And one even gave up their entire commission last year.”
Mr Knowles said there was also a strategic reason blue Friday was held in early to mid September.
“The reason we do it at the beginning of September, at the beginning of the spring selling season, is to make sure that the vendors get a head start on the market,” he said.
“So they’re not competing with such a large volume of auctions that normally hits at the end of September.”
