Upmarket estate agencies widen global network

High-end residential estate agencies across the world are persistently looking to expand their global networks, amid the generally gloomy outlook in the economy, according to The Financial Times.

One of these agencies, Knight Frank, is eyeing to increase its existing offices across 78 cities globally and plans to crawl into 100 cities by 2016.

"Significant developments in the last year have included the growth of the India team to a national force of over 800 staff, an increase in staffing across Asia Pacific and new offices opened in Austria, Switzerland, Romania, Abu Dhabi, Chennai, Hyderabad and the UK," said Nick Thomlinson, a senior partner at Knight Frank.

"Indians are looking to buy in Singapore, Malaysian buyers are looking within their region, Hong Kong Chinese buyers are looking in Phuket and Abu Dhabi buyers buy in Malaysia," he noted.

This is why they are planning new branches to serve local demand for local property aside from providing referrals to other offices inside the network.

"It is not just the movement of money out of an area," said Thomlinson. "You must also be able to sustain business within the market."

Meanwhile, Sotheby's International Realty has recently added its UK representation to serve more buyers. In the next two years, the agency plans to launch eight more branches within the country.

"Some of the places we are thinking of moving to will have international appeal," said Charles Smith, managing director of Sotheby's International Realty UK, adding that the company is moving into areas beyond London, as overseas buyers are starting to venture outside the capital.

International property adviser Savills has also expanded in London and in South-east Asia.

"Expansion of the residential business is a long-term game, and while there is going to be more short-term pain, as the eurozone crisis is going to take time to reach terra firma, we are convinced that the trend of buyers exporting wealth abroad will continue," stressed Rupert Sebag-Montefiore, Head of Global Residential Real Estate Business at Savills.

"In turbulent times, high net worth individuals are reassured by property as an asset."

In the case of Christie's International Real Estate, it has opened an office in Hong Kong with 20 more affiliates' offices coming across the Asia-Pacific region, Middle East and Moscow in three years' time.