Ray White Victoria and Tasmania celebrates its 2023 winners

The awards night celebrated the top offices and individual winners throughout the leading network.

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania CEO Stephen Dullens (pictured above) said it was so pleasing to recognise the significant achievements of the 2022-23 financial year.

“The 2023 year has been another big one. Despite market changes and economic challenges, we once again stood up and led the industry as conditions became uncertain - just like the market leaders should.

“We have so much to be collectively proud of. Our volume market share across Victoria now exceeds 11 per cent. This means we officially sell one in nine homes across Victoria - our strongest results ever,” Mr Dullens said.

“We conducted over 5,700 auctions, more than any other group across Victoria with an auction market share of 19.7 per cent. That’s nearly one in five auctions across Victoria...which as we know is the auction capital of the world.

“We now manage in excess of 59,000 rental properties, including over 14,000 new managements in the last financial year - again, the most we have ever managed and the largest growth we have ever achieved.

“It is our collective strength that allows us to be so much better and provide so much more opportunity to our members, our customers and each other.

“We learn best when we are together, celebrate our successes together and in turn, achieve better outcomes for our customers together.”

Ray White Group chairman Brian White AO and Managing Director Dan White were in Melbourne to congratulate all the award winners and finalists on their achievements.

Powerhouse business Ray White Ferntree Gully (pictured above) once again took out the top overall office spot across Victoria and Tasmaniafor settled commission for the seventh year in a row.

The coveted top individual salesperson award, based on settled commission for 2022-23 in Victoria and Tasmania, was won by Ben Thomas from Ray White Ferntree Gully, who took out the top individual spot for the sixth year in a row. Ray White Werribee was named the top office by number of sales.

Gavin Staindl of Ray White Pakenham beat out the competition and was named top salesperson based on volume of sales for the second year in a row.

Meanwhile, Ray White Balwyn principal Helen Yan was named as the No. 1 Principal of the 2022-23 Year, for the sixth year in a row. Not only is Ms Yan the top principal in the Ray White Victoria network but has also been frequently named as one of the best agents in the state. She was also named at the No 10 International Principal - Settled Commission.

She was also the winner of the coveted CEO’s Cup for her significant contribution to the wider Ray White Group.

Ms Yan is well respected inside and outside of the network and has grown her business to one of the top performing offices in Victoria. Her life-long passion for real estate means she is a leading figure within the Ray White network.

“Recognising Helen as the CEO Cup winner is particularly rewarding. The impact she has had not only within Ray White but across the real estate industry can not be understated.” Mr Dullens said.

Working in one of Melbourne’s most prestigious suburbs, Ms Yan took the plunge into business ownership and fast forward a few years, and she remains the number one agent in the market, achieving twice the number of sales as her closest competitor.

“Helen is an exceptionally strong sales performer, she joined our group in 2016 and has ranked consistently as the number one Selling Principal across Ray White Victoria and Tasmania for the last six years. She remains one of the strongest agents of any brand across Victoria. Helen is a tremendous ambassador for our group right across Australia.’

Fergus Torpy from Ray White Warrnambool was named as the Top Regional Salesperson based on settled commission at the state awards, while Ray White Warrnambool was named as the Top Regional Office across Victoria for the year.

In the highly regarded Business Achievement award category, Jess Densley and Fergus Torpy of Ray White Warrnambool were also recognised for the significant growth of their business in recent years.

“Our winners in 2023 are a true example of a business built through strategy, leadership, discipline and consistency over time,” Mr Dullens said.

“Driving a strong auction culture in a market where their competitors have always claimed auctions don’t work, these business leaders have built a strong team of individual and collective performance - so much so that every member of their sales team is either an Elite or Premier level, while they are also recognised as an Alan White Elite Property Management business. One of our few businesses that has just had their best year ever - and it’s not often that we can say that about a business in operation for over 20 years.”

Elsewhere, Jerry Papaluca and Danny Zanella from Ray White Epping were awarded Life membership status.

“These gentlemen joined forces to open their own business in 1998, a time when Ray White was only starting to get established in Victoria. Over the next two and a half decades, these gentlemen grew a business of which they could be extremely proud. For many years, they featured in our top 10 offices across Victoria and Tasmania, developed numerous Elite sales agents while also building a substantial rent roll. Well and truly, a business to be admired,” Mr Dullens said.

“At the same time, these gentlemen were known for their caring nature and creating a fantastic environment, with many of their team members with them for over 10 years.”

In the auction category, Ray White Craigieburn was again awarded the Top Auction Office gong, while Ray White Craigieburn’s Daniel Diamantopoulos once again took out the Top Auction Performer award for the third time.

Ray White Cheltenham’s Greg Brydon took out Senior Auctioneer of the Year after he also recently won the REIV auction competition. Hassan Allouche from Ray White Brunswick was recognised as the Novice Auctioneer of the Year.

Ray White Patterson Lakes was recognised as having the most year-on-year growth in the Victorian network, while Zole Elali from Ray White Caroline Springs was awarded the Top Salesperson in the same category.

The Sales Rising Star award, which recognises the newest talent in the network, was won by Harry Ponting from Ray White Warrnambool. Tommy-Lee Davies of Ray White Southbank was named as the Emerging Salesperson - Growth. Karan Vaghela from Ray White Carnegie was awarded the Lead Generator of the Year. Tess Maxwell from Ray White Oakleigh won the award for Sales Associate/PA of the Year.

Property management was not forgotten on the night. Ray White Cranbourne was named as the Top Property Management Business and Top Property Management Growth Business in the network.

Ray White Carnegie took home the Property Management Team of the Year award, while Mel Cook from Ray White Wantirna took out Property Manager of the Year.

The Property Management Business Development Manager of the Year award went to Stefan Albanese from Ray White Cranbourne. Bree Robertson from Ray White Cranbourne was named Property Management Team Leader of the Year while Ray White Frankston’s Elena Gianas was awarded Property Management Rookie of the Year.

The Property Management Customer Satisfaction Office of the Year award once again went to Ray White Wodonga. Ray White Wodonga, Warrnambool, Lara, Phillip Island and Ferntree Gully were all given the Client’s Choice (Office) awards while Matthew Wade-Taylor from Ray White Lara, Alex Hale of Phillip Island, Tessa Stephens from Warrnambool, Emma Burchell from Lara and Bec Anderson from Phillip Island was recognised in the individual category.

Ray White Lara won the Customer Care Team of the Year. Ray White Phillip Island won the Community Service award.

The individual award for Property Marketing Excellence went to Ray White Sunbury’s Aaron Hill & Marin Durkovic for their winning performance on last year's season of “The Block”, while Ray White Frankston took out the award for office marketing excellence. Ray White Taylors Lakes was named the Best Presented Office.

The Operations/Administration Team of the Year was Ray White Cranbourne | Cheltenham while the Front of House Manager of the Year award went to Paula Rizzo from Ray White Oakleigh. Samantha Derksen from Ray White Wantirna took out the Office/Operations Manager of the Year award.

Eddy He of Ray White Oakleigh won the Agent/Broker Partnership (Loan Market Referrals) award, while the Top Office Loan Market Referrals award went to Ray White Oakleigh. Lilian Kwan of Ray White Southbank won Top Referring Individual while Ray White Southbank also took out the office award.