- Peter Thompson plans to step down as head of Barfoot & Thompson within five years.
- His family agency handles four in 10 Auckland residential sales, spanning more than 80 branches.
- Thompson says technology is changing real estate, but face-to-face service remains essential.
The head of Auckland’s largest real estate agency says he’s planning his exit after more than two decades in the role.
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Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson told OneRoof he plans to step down within the next four to five years, potentially to a directorship.
“I turn 65 next year, so over the next four or five years I’ll be looking at probably getting out slightly. New generations need to come in, new blood needs to come in to take the company to another level,” he told OneRoof.
Thompson, who was this year made Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his philanthropy and services to rugby, said he’s loved his 45-year career in real estate and was proud the family company now handles about four in every 10 residential sales across Auckland.
“I still remember the day I made my first sale and seeing the young people moving into their first home. I was much their same age, so I really felt with them and had that connection,” Thompson said.
Barfoot and Thompson managing director Peter Thompson, centre, with director Stephen Barfoot, left, and CEO Chris Dobbie. Photo: Fiona Goodall Photo / Fiona Goodall
Thompson in 2006 when he was appointed managing director of Barfoot & Thompson. Photo / Kenny Rodger
The house was in Clendon Park in Manurewa, and he sold it to a young couple after the 1987 market crash for $68,000.
“Today it would probably be pretty close to $700,000,” Thompson said.
Real estate was not Thompson’s first career plan. He intended to qualify as an accountant, but that plan was derailed when his father John died suddenly right on exam time.
“When I got the results back, I knew they weren’t going to be flash. My uncle said to me, ‘What are you going to do? Do you want to get into the company?’
“I thought ‘Why not?’ ... I would never replace it,” Thompson said.
While he grew up around the business, Thompson is quick to point out that family members do not get a free ride. Everyone started at the bottom.
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“I’d been in the company for years indirectly with obviously Mum and Dad and my uncle in the business, but I’d also come in and work in the title search division going up to the Land Survey Office and getting all the titles during the school holidays.”
He said that was his introduction to real estate and he hasn’t looked back - although he said he was still learning.
Thompson said the industry was changing rapidly, with artificial intelligence reshaping the way people access information.
“You’ve got to be on your toes. If you sit still, you will never progress,” he said.
Yet despite changes in technology, Thompson said the fundamentals of real estate remained much the same as when Barfoot & Thompson was founded 103 years ago.
“We’ve got to really just refocus on all our agents getting back face to face and providing a service that still warrants the need for a real estate agent.”
He said while buyers and sellers now have more access to more data than before, real estate still remained a people business.
Barfoot & Thompson is Auckland’s biggest real estate agency. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Thompson in 2020. He was made Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit this year for his philanthropy and services to rugby. Photo/ Ted Baghurst
That approach has helped Barfoot & Thompson maintain a dominant position in Auckland and expand into other parts of the country through partnerships with independent agencies.
The company banner now stretches to Northland, Tauranga, Hamilton and across to Coromandel with more than 80 branches and over 1800 salespeople.
While he’s spent a lifetime in property, Thompson said neither he nor the Barfoot family were frequent buyers and sellers.
“Garth (Barfoot) was in his home for about 35 years. My wife and I have been in our home for about 25, almost coming up to 30 years. I’m probably on my third family home, starting small,” he said.
Thompson said he also preferred to pay off each property’s mortgage before selling and trading up.
“I don’t like carrying debt,” he said, a lesson he learned in the 1980s when mortgage interest rates climbed above 20%.
Every day, Thompson walks past a photo gallery of the generations that built the company, including founder Val Barfoot and his great-grandfather Maurice Thompson.
He worked alongside the second generation of family leaders, including his uncle Monty Thompson and Garth and Chris Barfoot, before taking over as managing director in 2002 after the sudden death of his brother Mark.
Even now, he still leans on that generation for advice.
“Garth is now 90, so I don’t talk to him that often. But often I would pick up a phone, or he would phone me and say, ‘Have you thought about this?’.”
“Monty was always a good sounding board, because at that stage I didn’t have Dad to rely on and he sort of took it over.”
Thompson said maintaining those connections was part of what made a family business unique.
“The generations have to pass the information down and be involved, otherwise there’s no point in being a family company,” he said.
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