Barry Plant CEO Mike McCarthy told REB that after a period of stagnant growth, the group is now rapidly expanding its local Melbourne market, as well as opening new offices in Adelaide.

Earlier this month, the group opened its first office in Norwood, with Michael Duff serving as director. Mr Duff is supported by Elesa Wood as general manager and Linda Baker as sales manager.

“We are delighted with how they have been going with sales and listings over the last couple of weeks,” Mr McCarthy said. “South Australia is really an opportunity that presented itself.” “These three extremely good sales people who were planning to head out and open their own business,” he said.

“They were looking for a brand to do that with. They reached out to us and asked if we would be interested. Given the quality of the people, we would be crazy not to. In my experience, if you can get good people as a starting point, you can build around that, and these people are very good.”

From a network point of view, Mr McCarthy said Barry Plant has had a good look at the Adelaide, where the group will open a number of new offices in the coming months. “We believe there is an opportunity to have at least 10 to 12 Barry Plant offices across Adelaide,” he said, adding that the group will also be opening new branches in Victoria.

“Two have opened already in Drouin and Box Hill,” Mr McCarthy said. He said another two offices are being fitted out in Greensborough and Brunswick. Additionally, four more branches will open but he declined to disclose their locations.“

After a period of fairly stagnant growth where we perhaps might have opened one office and closed a smaller branch or something, we are having a real growth spurt. By June, we will hit about 85 or 86 offices.” Barry Plant holds the largest market share of the Melbourne real estate market at 13.2 per cent, according to CoreLogic RP data figures. Mr McCarthy said Ray White is its biggest competitor.