HARCOURTS BREAKS RECORD WITH FEBRUARY BEST MONTH EVER

Harcourts International Ltd has just recorded its best month ever in its 117 year history despite rumours of a slow-down in the property industry. In February 2005 the value of Harcourts' written sales was a massive $1.4 billion throughout its Australasian operation.

In New Zealand alone, Harcourts' just on 174 offices achieved over $940 million in written sales for the month, averaging out to $33 million per day, or $1.4 million worth of written property sales an hour.

Harcourts International Ltd's Managing Director, Mike Green, said that buyers were continuing to show high levels of confidence in property throughout both New Zealand and Australia, with some areas particularly outstanding.

"One of the most exciting aspects about these quite significant milestones is that they were achieved in what has been described as a 'softening market'. Clearly we are not experiencing the same slow down as others in our industry. We are confident our aggressive growth strategy along with our continued focus on outstanding customer service, training, upskilling and technology is creating a true industry leader at an international level," Mr Green added.

As the fastest growing real estate group in Australasia, Harcourts now has 174 offices throughout New Zealand and Fiji with a further close to 160 throughout Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, and Indonesia.

Harcourts International Ltd has continued to pursue an aggressive growth strategy throughout Australasia, however is also currently exploring options in China, Dubai, Thailand and the United Kingdom.