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The red carpet was rolled out, and bubbles were flowing as the best in the industry were recognised for their achievements.
Australia’s leading real estate professionals travelled to Melbourne last week for the Annual REA Excellence Awards (AREAs).
People from every state were in the Victorian capital where 21 awards were presented to recognise excellence and best practice in innovation, service and marketing excellence, and community.
“The AREAs celebrate the success and achievements of our customers and partners across the property and media industry,” REA Group CEO Owen Wilson said.
Among the winners were Laing+Simmons’ Leanne Pilkington, who was recognised as the most influential woman in the property market.
“It is just wonderful to get the recognition,” Ms Pilkington told Real Estate Business.
She has been lucky in her career to have worked for incredible people who have allowed her to progress her profession with reassuring support.
Although there is a large number of women in the real estate industry, the balance in leadership roles is male-dominated. But Ms Pilkington believes if women break through their own barriers, they can be industry leaders, too.
“If you surround yourself [with] the right people and put your mind to it, you can achieve what you want to achieve,” she said.
She acknowledged that some of the barriers she had to overcome were self-inflicted.
“When I first joined the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales board, I had to be asked,” she said. “It didn’t occur to me that I had a voice that could be of value.”
Ms Pilkington supports these industry events and believes they are essential for the industry to come together and recognise achievements.
“It is important women can come and see other women be recognised and say, ‘If she can do it, I can do it, too’.”
Other gold AREA winners included Holly Komorowski from home.byholly in Canberra as Residential Agent of the Year; Mark Wizel from CBRE in Melbourne as Commercial Agent of the Year; and Jamie Billerwell of Code Property Group in the Sunshine Coast as Property Manager of the Year.
“Congratulations to this year’s winners,” Mr Wilson said. “We’re thrilled to be able to recognise you publicly, and share your inspirational stories of passion and creativity. Your success drives our industry forward, and our partnership provides Australians with the best possible experiences at every stage of their property journey.
“Together, we have weathered tough market conditions, but we’re starting to see green shoots emerging. We know the buyers are back, and it is only a matter of time before the market recovery takes hold.”
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