LJ Hooker Project Marketing ACT secures top spot in national real estate rankings

LJ Hooker Project Marketing ACT has taken out the nation’s top spot in this year’s Real Estate Business (REB) Top 50 Sales Offices ranking.

While they’ve consistently placed in the top 10 for the past decade, it’s the first time the ACT office has secured the number one position in the ranking, which recognises the accomplishments of Australia’s top-performing real estate offices.

The award considers the total number of listings and settled sales, the value of sales, average days on market and the number of staff. However, LJ Hooker Project Marketing ACT managing director Andrew Ligdopoulos attributed the accolade to a “strong leadership team” and “amazing, long-standing staff”.

“We’ve been winning awards nationally for the last 12 years within the LJ Hooker Group and I think that consistency of results has been a big part of our success,” he said.

“We’ve got some of the best-trained agents in the country and a really good clientele who bring repeat business, which contributes to our success as well.”

He said the result was “a testament to our team’s hard work, experience and years of dedication”.

“We are incredibly proud of our team and set the challenge as a team to continue to support each other and put people at the heart of everything we do,” Andrew added.

For the 12th consecutive year, the Top 50 Sales Offices ranking showcases real estate offices that have gone above and beyond for their clients during a challenging economic environment and built a strong presence in their local markets.

According to REB, agents have had to manage the expectations of nervous vendors and buyers as they faced rising interest rates, mounting cost of living pressures and mortgage stress, along with fluctuating advertised stock.

This has had an impact on average settlement numbers, which fell from 595 in the previous year to 492.54 in 2024 across the top 50 offices and from 1047 to 1041.35 across the top 10 offices.

Likewise, total average settlement values declined year-on-year from $563.8 million to $478.1 million across the top 50 offices, and from $851.3 million to $768.3 million across the top 10 offices.

LJ Hooker Project Marketing ACT, which specialises in the sale of apartments, townhouses, off-the-plan homes and new developments, sold a total of 898 properties in the last financial year, with an average sale price of $557,943. The 14 agents sold more than $501 million worth of property within the 12-month period.

Andrew said many “significant landmark developments from some of Canberra’s largest developers” contributed to the winning figures compiled by Agile Market Intelligence, the research arm of Momentum Media, the parent company of REB.

The Canberra office was ahead of Harcourts Mandurah in Western Australia and Boffo Real Estate in South Australia.

REB editor Grace Orsmby said the rankings showcased the hard work and business prowess of sales offices across Australia, especially as they navigated tougher economic conditions and guided clients who were facing mortgage stress and cost-of-living pressures.

“It is so pleasing to see real estate teams rise above any challenges thrown at them and thrive in their businesses,” she said.

“It is during challenging times that the experience, fortitude and capabilities of agents really come to the fore. The offices in this year’s ranking have demonstrated leadership, savvy business acumen and dedication to providing exceptional customer service.”

Andrew said his team was always working to improve and the COVID-19 lockdowns had highlighted the importance of face-to-face contact with clients.

“I’m excited for the team, I’m happy and proud of them, but the more exciting thing is we’re still nowhere near finished in terms of what we want to achieve. We’ve won this great award, but there’s so much more to improve on,” he said.

“While COVID showed us another way we needed to do business, at the end of the day, real estate is about people, and that touch-point with that human element to provide guidance and support is still what people want. In fact, I think COVID really highlighted that.”

LJ Hooker Project Marketing ACT assists many community organisations and charities, including Kulture Break and Ronald McDonald House, and last year supported the Strathnairn Charity House at Ginninderry.

The REB Top 50 accolade, announced at The Star Sydney on 29 January, comes on the back of the agency being named the Real Estate Institute (REI) ACT’s number one Largest Residential Agency in Canberra in September.