About Ray White
Established in 1902, Ray White has grown over more than a century to become the largest real estate group in Australasia, as well as a name synonymous with property.
The group, which remains owned by the White family and is now led by fourth-generation family member Dan White as managing director, sells more than 100,000 properties a year worth over $75 billion in sales value across the residential, commercial and rural property sectors, as well as having interests in hotels, marine, property management and property funds investment and advice.
The Ray White business wasn’t always focused on real estate, however. It began with a young man from the small Queensland country town of Crows Nest who had a strong entrepreneurial streak. Selling anything from pigs, produce and machinery to vehicles and insurance from a disused railway shed where he set up shop in 1902, the young Ray White quickly made a name for himself as a savvy businessman.
The first of his many land sales came in 1907, when he sold 12 building sites as an auctioneer. But it wasn’t until he moved his family to Brisbane in 1924 that White had access to the volume of property business that allowed him to focus on the real estate sector. Even then, he sold property from the far north to the west of the state – nothing was off limits – and his sales included medical practices, farms and cinemas.
This embrace of commercial real estate by the Ray White business continues to this day; in keeping with the ‘Ray White sells anything’ tradition, it leases and sells office space, land, building sites, retail stores, industrial buildings and hotels.
Ray’s son Alan, who joined his father at Ray White after World War II, drove the business to even greater success, filling newspapers with Ray White advertising as its network of offices expanded to 15 by the 1970s. Ray’s grandson Brian, who joined Ray White in the ‘80s, in turn introduced a franchising model that took the business to new heights. Brian’s son Dan further expanded the business in 2002 with the addition of the White & Partners property investment and advisory division.
Today Ray White has more than 1,000 offices in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East, including 730 franchised offices in Australia and 182 in New Zealand. The commercial division, which is exclusive to Australia and New Zealand, has 50 businesses led by owners, with more than 250 commercial property agents filling them.
Ray White’s original railway shed, meanwhile, has been restored and has pride of place in Crows Nest’s historical village.