Livingroom Property in Jersey has been named the best single office estate agency in the world, beating established global names in an international competition.
The Channel Island estate agent has been successful through all available stages of the annual competition – winning locally, nationally, across Europe and, now, internationally.
After being named the best in the British Isles, Livingroom then represented the UK and British Isles against Europe and subsequently won. The next stage was to solely represent Europe in the industry-pinnacle international awards where Livingroom was crowned the best in the world in the single office estate agency category, beating regional winners from Africa, Asia Pacific, Arabia, Canada, Caribbean, Central & South America and USA.
Simon Torode (pictured), Livingroom Founder, CEO, said the win exceeded all expectations and reflected on a momentous day for his agency and the Channel Islands.
“It still hasn’t really sunk in that Livingroom has won such a special and defining international award,” said Simon. “We’ve won a great share of Property Awards over the last decade for our Channel Island work, but this one is special. To win the global award is beyond anything I could have imagined and is a pinnacle award for what we do – encompassing the entire process from start to finish.
“When I founded Livingroom in 2006, it was with the intention of doing things differently. The whole team are proud advocates of both Jersey and Guernsey, promoting the islands as incredible places to live and work, and the recognition by international judging panels puts the islands on the world map.
“I want to thank our whole team for their dedication to our values, our customers for their faith in us, and all the people who’ve worked with us and helped us along the way. For a small Channel Island company to be named as the best in the world in its field is a phenomenal feat, but shows what you can achieve if you work hard, believe in what you’re doing and strive to be different.
“Rather than an international agency entering the Channel Islands, Livingroom is a Channel Island agent with an international mindset – no adjustments need to be made to how we work, we truly understand where we work and who we work for. 100% of our effort and reward goes back into our local communities.”
In the grand international final and alongside Livingroom, Knight Frank (488 offices across 57 territories) in the Philippines won Best International Lettings Agency; Cushman & Wakefield (one of the world’s largest commercial real estate services firms with 400 offices in 60 countries with circa 50,000 employees) won Best International Property Agency; Pam Golding Properties (with over 300 offices in sub-Saharan Africa and overseas) in South Africa won Best International Real Estate Agency Marketing; Barfoot & Thompson (75+ branches, over 1,500 salespeople) won Best International Real Estate Agency over 20 Offices; and Liz Hogan, South Florida real estate supremo, won the accolade of Best International Real Estate Agent.
Stuart Shield, the President of the Awards, said: “Livingroom have consistently provided quality entries into the awards for the last decade. Livingroom demonstrate how a smaller agency can clearly compete with multi-national and international agencies: through the quality of their stand-alone offering, their clear sense of identity, and their innovative spirit.
“This year, there was a hair’s breadth between Livingroom’s Guernsey and Jersey offices in the judging process but we felt that the Jersey office deserved to be recognised for its incredible success in just over three years from opening. As a result, the judges have awarded Livingroom the top-level accolade of Best Single Estate Agency Office for the World. Well done Livingroom, myself and my team are proud to see you achieve such amazing success.”
The International Property Awards are open to residential and commercial property professionals from around the globe and are judged by a panel of more than 100 industry experts.
The full list of International Property Awards international winners is available here.
