Best-Rated Real Estate Agents | Buyers & Sellers

How we rate real estate agents for buyers & sellers

Our review compares real estate agents on customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our compared real estate agents before you choose one to handle your property transaction. Think of it like asking hundreds of your closest friends which real estate companies they think deliver the best value and service!

Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.

Property Brokers

Ratings Results

In this year’s award ratings, Property Brokers is the clear winner, rated the No.1 real estate agent in New Zealand for Customer Satisfaction. Not only is it the only realtor to earn a top 5-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, it replicates that top rating across all five of our award categories.

Editor’s Notes

Property Brokers is a Kiwi-owned family business that was founded in 1986. From just five original staff members, it now has over 85 branches across the country, employing more than 850 people.

Property Brokers has a provincial focus, and prioritises building the kind of strong relationships that are integral to doing business in small-town New Zealand. For more details, check out the Property Brokers website.

Harcourts

Ratings Results

Placed second on our list of the nation’s favourite real estate agents for buyers and sellers of property, Harcourts earns predominantly 5-Star ratings from its very contented customers. For Overall Satisfaction and Problem Resolution it achieves 4-Star ratings. In our other three categories, it earns top 5-Star ratings.

Editor’s Notes

You’d be hard pressed to find a team more experienced than Harcourts, who have been selling Kiwi homes since 1888. As New Zealand’s largest real estate group, it offers a full suite of real estate services, from helping you to buy and sell, to managing investment properties and more. For more details, check out the Harcourts website.

Ray White

Ratings Results

Ray White scores predominantly 4-Star ratings, placing it third on our table. It achieves these for Communication, Contract Handling and Financial Paperwork. Across our other categories, including Overall Satisfaction, it earns 3-Star ratings. While not a top score, 3 Stars is by no means a measure of dissatisfaction, and is still indicative of solid consumer contentment.

Editor’s Notes

Ray White is a fourth-generation, family owned and led business. Founded in Australia in 1902, it is now an international company, boasting over 930 franchised offices across Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Here in NZ it has offices across the country. Click here to check out the Ray White website.

Bayleys

Ratings Results

Bayleys’ property customers award the realtor 3 Stars for Overall Satisfaction, Communication and Problem Resoltion. They reserve their best ratings for Bayleys’ Contract Handling and Financial Paperwork.

Editor’s Notes

Bayleys is New Zealand’s largest full-service real estate company. Drawing on 50 years of experience, it offers expert advice across all property sectors, including residential, commercial, rural and property services. For more information, refer to the Bayleys website.

Barfoot & Thompson

Ratings Results

Barfoot & Thompson rounds out this year’s award table, and achieves a solid set of consistent 3-Star ratings across every category from clients.

Editor’s Notes

Barfoot & Thompson is New Zealand’s largest privately owned real estate agency, and claims a 100-year history in New Zealand. It has more than 95 branches throughout Auckland and Northland, over 1800 sales staff and 17,000 residential rental properties under management. For more details, check out the Barfoot & Thompson website.

Other real estate agents

Not all real estate agents in the market qualify for our ratings (based on minimum survey sample size), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering. Here are more NZ real estate agents to consider.

Eves

Editor’s Notes

Eves was founded in the Bay of Plenty in 1969, and now has 14 dedicated offices throughout the north, the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. It remains wholly New Zealand owned and operated.

First National

Editor’s Notes

Established here in 1985, First National has independently owned and operated franchises throughout the country, from Kaitaia in the north to Riverton in the south.

LJ Hooker

Editor’s Notes

LJ Hooker is one of Australia’s largest real estate companies. Here in NZ, it has offices nationwide, all staffed by experts in their local markets.

Lodge

Lodge Real Estate has been established in Hamilton for over 50 years, and prides itself on its local knowledge. There are eight Lodge offices based in and around the city.

Mike Pero

Mike Pero real estate first opened in 1991 and now has agents nationwide, dedicated to helping Kiwis buy, sell and rent property. Their in-house marketing team uses a range of mediums to get your property noticed, including TV and digital marketing.

Their sister company Mike Pero Mortgages helps ensure that buying a home is straightforward and hassle-free.

Professionals

Editor’s Notes

Founded in Australia, the Professionals brand was established in New Zealand over 40 years ago. It now has a network of independently owned real estate businesses across the country, staffed by property experts with local knowledge.

RE/MAX

Short for Real Estate Maximums, RE/MAX is an American international real estate company that was founded in 1973. Boasting over 500 employees, RE/MAX’s franchise system is internationally renowned for its accessibility and trustworthiness.

Tall Poppy

Editor’s Notes

Tall Poppy was founded just over a decade ago, in 2012. It has offices in Hamilton, Bay of Plenty, Palmerston North and around Wellington in the North Island, and in Christchurch in the South Island. However its digital reach and sales and marketing team spans the entire country.

Tremains

Tremains has its roots deep in New Zealand history. The real estate company was founded in Hawke’s Bay by former All Black legend Kel Tremain, in 1970. Since then, it has expanded across Taupo, Rotorua, Tauranga and the Wairarapa, and is still a family business.

What do real estate agents do?

While real estate agents are basically a bridge between potential home buyers and sellers, or landlords and their tenants, there’s plenty that goes on behind the scenes.

In addition to their housing market knowledge, they can also give you specific information on your local area, including demographics, average house prices, public transport options, schools and even local council regulations, which can be useful if you’re moving to a new area. And if you’re not comfortable with negotiating, some real estate agents can play hard ball on your behalf.

Real estate agents can also be classified into speciality fields. These include buyers’ agents, if you’re looking to buy a property and need someone to evaluate, negotiate and even attend buying auctions for you. Or a property manager, if you want to become a landlord and need help with screening new tenants and dealing with repairs and inspections.

While most real estate businesses will have a number of agents on hand to help you with whatever property query you have, it doesn’t hurt to look into what type of agent is best suited for your needs, and the assistance they’ll be able to provide.

Real estate agents’ fees

There can be a lot of costs involved when selling your home. Expenses you will need to consider include:

• Administration fee – expect to pay approximately $500.
• Agent’s commission or fee – Obviously, these vary between agencies, but in broad terms you can expect to pay between 2.95% – 4% on the first $400,000 of your sale price and around 2% on anything over that.
• Marketing costs – these are usually incurred on top of the commission fee and cover the cost of advertising in local property magazines, newspapers and online, as well as any bespoke property literature. Again, there is a huge variance in costs here, as it really does depend on what the vendor wants and how much additional cash they want to spend. Have a clear plan of what you want to spend before you sign any agreements. Also have a clear understanding of how many adverts you can expect, their size and when and where they will be placed.
• Auctioneers costs – you can expect to pay around $500 for the services of a qualified auctioneer, regardless of whether your property sells or not. 

Real estate agents’ services

No matter which agent you engage, in return for the fees and charges, you should expect:

• Clear advice on what is involved in selling your property, including outlining your legal obligations.
• An outline of current market conditions and recent selling prices of comparable properties in your area.
• To be given copies of the Agency Agreement Guide and the Sale and Purchase Agreement Guide.
• Arranging and managing the advertising of your property.
• To be provided with a pool of potential buyers viewing your property.
• Your agent to act as a contact point for potential buyers and other agents, answering queries and arranging viewings (both scheduled open homes and private appointments).

The most important thing is to do your research before you sign with an agent and, where possible, to negotiate. All agreements should be included in your agency agreement (which both you and the agent sign) but make sure you receive and read a copy of the agency agreement guide before you make any decisions.

Every real estate agent needs to be registered and must adhere to a code of conduct. In addition, their licence needs to be renewed with the Real Estate Agents Authority each year. 

About the editor of this page

This report was written by Canstar’s Editor, Bruce Pitchers. Bruce has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in the UK and Australasia, including ACP, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. Prior to Canstar, he worked as a freelancer, including for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority, and for real estate companies on both sides of the Tasman.