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“Blue Friday” has rallied to raise the much-needed funding for mental health organisation, Beyond Blue.
Australia-wide, 320 homes went under the hammer on Friday, 22 September, as part of the Harcourts’ initiative and while there is no official way of verifying this achievement, the agency group believes they’ve hit a new record for single-day auctions.
As part of the initiative, $100 from the sale of every property sold on Blue Friday will be donated to Beyond Blue, with a minimum of $50,000 guaranteed to be provided by the Harcourts Foundation.
Harcourts chief executive officer Adrian Knowles shared the initiative is part of the network’s commitment towards “working hard to find new ways to create value for our network and clients, while being motivated to help others, which is why we’ve chosen to support Beyond Blue”.
And while auctioning such a high volume of stock presents operational challenges, requiring extreme coordination to ensure pristine execution, especially in certain states where the culture isn’t as prevalent, the network believes the event has created an unrivalled selling platform.
The proof is in the pudding, with network officials revealing the blend of on-site and in-room auctions produced a preliminary clearance rate exceeding 60 per cent, with in-room auctions in Queensland and South Australia performing greater than the national average.
With more than two in five Australians experiencing a mental health condition in their lives, and in light of the significant challenges many everyday Australians have faced in recent years, the network revealed making the decision to partner with Beyond Blue was “easy”.
“Helping others achieve success isn’t just limited to selling real estate or managing someone’s investment property – it stretches far wider than that.”
In an environment as high-paced and stressful as Australian real estate, the network sees promoting mental health services such as Beyond Blue is “vital and something we’re really proud of”.
Georgie Harman, Beyond Blue chief executive officer, explained: “Reaching out is one of the most important steps a person can take on the road to recovery.”
“We are focused on making it easier for people to get the support they need as early as possible. All donations go to the Beyond Blue Support Service to ensure our trained counsellors are available via phone or web chat 24 hours a day,” she added.
Mr Knowles concluded: “At Harcourts, we place a huge importance on workplace mental health, and we are ecstatic to be supporting Beyond Blue again to help them continue to make a positive difference.”
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