CEO UPDATE
Reflecting on an eventful 2021
Jen Baird CEO, REINZ
It’s an interesting time for New Zealand’s real estate profession. From adapting ways of working through differing alert levels and New Zealand’s longest lockdowns to recognising and moving toward a new data-enabled, digital future, real estate and property management professionals have continued to serve buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords all the same.
Over the course of 2021, this profession has shown immense resilience, collaboration and commitment to doing the right thing. I want to give a special acknowledgment to our Auckland members who have spent a long stint in lockdown. I know that this one has been especially difficult. In these unprecedented times, your institute has also remained resilient. We have tirelessly advocated for sensible guidelines from our regulator, and for those in the wider government machine to understand our profession’s specific circumstances and make their considerations from a position of knowledge. We have been fortunate to work in a part of the economy where demand hasn’t been impacted so harshly by the pandemic this year — and you have continued to serve New Zealand well over this time. Others haven’t fared so well, particularly small businesses. As we draw closer to Christmas, I encourage you to shop local, and support a small business near you. As a nation, it is the least we can do. Despite COVID-19, REINZ was delighted to host the 2021 REINZ Awards for Excellence in September. For the first time, the Awards were hosted virtually, the live event broadcast from Hamilton. It was a great success, with more than 550 viewers from all around the country tuning in to celebrate success across the real estate profession. Although from afar — it was wonderful to see you all online, and
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The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand
we hope you had a great evening. A big congratulations to our winners and finalists on the night. You can read more about the Awards on page 13. We also held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) as a virtual event in November. We look forward to introducing you to our new Regional Directors, Treena Drinnan and Malcolm Morris, in the next issue of the magazine. I want to make a special mention to our departing directors Wendy Alexander and Mark Coffey. After eight years, Wendy leaves a lasting legacy of service at REINZ. As many of you know, Wendy was the Acting Chief Executive of REINZ to cover the period between Bindi Norwell’s departure and my appointment as the new Chief Executive. The team at REINZ and I are forever grateful for Wendy’s valued input over her tenure and the positive impact she has had on our organisation. Throughout Mark’s tenure on the board, he has brought the voice of our regional members to the table. His understanding of the differing needs of members and his commitment to supporting you has made a tangible difference to how and what REINZ delivers. Recently, he has been part of the working group that has seen REINZ improve its working relationship with ADLS for the benefit of our members and your customers. It is bittersweet to see them both go as we look forward to welcoming new voices and fresh perspectives to the REINZ Board.
We also said farewell to two members of our Senior Management Team, Kirti Desai, REINZ’s Chief Digital & Innovation Officer, and Belinda Woolrych, REINZ’s Education Director. Both have played important roles in the organisation, and we wish them all the very best in their future endeavours. We were delighted to welcome Miles Fordyce on board as our new Digital & Innovation Officer in December. REINZ’s new Head of Communications, Marie Cahalane, joined us in September and has already made her mark. You can read more about Marie on page 12. We have some wonderful articles to get you through to the end of the year (and will make for some great reading over the summer break) in this issue of the magazine. We delve deep into the exciting growth in Queenstown and the Kāpiti Coast (page 18 and page 20), discuss Kainga Ora’s new shared ownership scheme to help first home buyers (page 46), draw on the importance of real estate businesses giving back to the community (page 48), and much more. I hope you take some time to reflect on your successes over this year, and take some much needed R & R before heading into 2022 with all guns blazing — as we in the profession tend to do! Thank you for your ongoing support. Meri Kirihimete and have a Happy New Year. Nga mihi, Jen Baird
