Harcourts

John Bateman Harcourt established the Harcourts real estate company in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1888. From 1874 John had been a partner in the merchant partnership A. P. Stuart & Co., which he bought out in 1879.

Initially, Harcourts focused on the sale of city property, as well as country, seaside, mining, farms and station properties and had a strong auction presence. In its early stages, the company introduced "The Register and Property Investors Guide", the equivalent of Bluebook. It published and circulated about 4,000 copies throughout Wellington monthly.

In 1905, John Bateman Harcourt’s sons Stanton and Gordon joined the company. In 1929, Gordon founded his own company, Gordon Harcourt Ltd, while Stanton headed Harcourt & Co. After Stanton's retirement in the 1950s, Hec Fisher headed the company. In 1980 Harcourt & Co expanded into Auckland and announced listing on the Stock Exchange.

In 1985, the company merged with Collins Real Estate to form Harcourts Real Estate Ltd. and became one of the largest real estate companies in the country.

In 1988, Stephen Collins introduced Harcourts’ current franchise model and made Harcourts a publicly listed company. National Bank of New Zealand was one of the first shareholders. It continued to purchase shares, leading to the return to private ownership. The next year, Tower Corporation purchased the shares from the National Bank. Stephen Collins, in 1992, conducted a management buyout together with Paul Wright, Bob Cooper, and Jo-Anne Clifford.

In 1996, Harcourts stated it launched the first national public searchable online property database. The following year, Harcourts entered the Australian market.

In 2002, it launched Harcourts Academy, a training academy providing courses for sales, management and administration for the real estate industry, which later became an RTO (Registered Training Organisation) of which it still operates today as the Harcourts Real Estate Training Centre.

In 2008, the company launched its own charity, The Harcourts Foundation. Operating in a number of the same markets the Harcourts residential real estate brand does, The Harcourts Foundation has raised millions of dollars in support of more than 1,340 charities, something it continues with today and includes major support for organisations including Gumboot Friday, Hospice New Zealand and Beyond Blue.

Harcourts provides centralized support services to its franchise network, including training, marketing, and technology support.

Harcourts reports over 6,000 team members worldwide and over 860 offices in 11 countries.

In 2023, Harcourts transacted $50 billion worth of property and as of 2024, it has $58.8 billion worth of property under management. The company manages over 106,000 properties.

Brands

The company operates several brands, including Harcourts (residential sales and property management), NAI Harcourts (commercial sales and property investment management specialists), Nutrien Harcourts (rural regional sales and property management specialists), Harcourts Foundation (the charitable arm of Harcourts) and Harcourts Academy.

Regulatory proceedings

In September 2025, New Zealand's Commerce Commission announced civil proceedings alleging cartel conduct in the Christchurch real estate market involving Harcourts Group Limited and four Harcourts franchisees: Four Seasons Realty 2017 Limited, Gold Real Estate Group Limited, Grenadier Real Estate Limited, and Holmwood Real Estate Limited.

The Commerce Commission case register lists the matter as open, with ongoing court proceedings under section 30 of the Commerce Act 1986.

In a 2016 Commerce Commission case involving national real estate agencies, Harcourts Group Limited was one of five agency defendants (along with Barfoot & Thompson Limited, LJ Hooker New Zealand Limited, Ray White (Real Estate) Limited, and Bayley Corporation Limited) in proceedings concerning a price-fixing arrangement related to passing on Trade Me advertising costs to vendors; Harcourts Group Limited was later ordered to pay a penalty of NZ$2.575 million.