MRS Property opens Melbourne office

Adelaide-based MRS Property, which commands a national investment portfolio worth more than $600 million, has opened its first interstate office in the booming Melbourne market.

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Adelaide firm MRS Property has opened the doors to its first interstate office.

Director Lloyd Ioannou has relocated to Melbourne to oversee the property group’s new Collins St base, with industry veteran Philip Wotton appointed to head up the firm’s property management business in Victoria.

MRS’s investment arm - Harmony Property Investments - oversees ten assets in Melbourne, worth around $175 million.

MRS managing director Geoff Robertson said it made sense to establish a permanent presence in the city given the firm’s growing portfolio there.

“We had four different property management firms managing our properties interstate,” he said.

“What we found in Melbourne, having four different service providers, the level of service we were getting, we didn’t really feel that it was up to the level that we wanted.

“We wouldn’t have done it if we were just going over there to manage the Harmony properties so we made the decision that if we want to do it we want to do it properly.

“There’s a lot of fantastic stories about successful businesses that started in Adelaide and who’ve gone onto become very big businesses. We’re not chasing that but we are looking for the business to keep on evolving.”

MRS managing director Geoff Robertson and Melbourne director Lloyd Ioannou. Photo: Naomi Jellicoe

MRS will initially focus on expanding its property management business to the broader Melbourne market.

Since the merger of MRS and Harmony in 2013, the group has built up an investment portfolio worth more than $600 million, with 34 assets in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.

Around half of the portfolio is located in Adelaide, where the firm provides property management, investment and advisory services.

Mr Robertson said while last year’s land tax debate presented a “serious distraction” for the local industry, the market had moved on and continued to attract strong interest.

“You only need to look at who’s buying the properties - Adelaide is very much on the radar of a whole lot people who haven’t looked at Adelaide before, as well as institutions who are looking to get back into the Adelaide market.

“The no stamp duty is a big plus and you’re getting one per cent or more than you get in other states.

“We’re actively looking in Adelaide - it seems like everything we look at in Adelaide we tend to run second, third, fourth or fifth.”

MRS employs 40 staff and manages 130 properties in Adelaide.

As part of a succession plan implemented in 2018, Mr Ioannou, Michael Rouvray, Mike Elgar, Carol Olsen and Steve Hamblin joined the firm’s founding directors in a renewed ownership and management team to drive MRS forward.

“The founders agreed that we wanted the MRS Property brand to survive us as we got older,” Mr Robertson said.

“We wanted to make sure that the people who were going to come into the business understood all of that, and we wanted to create an opportunity for them to take the business forward.”

In Melbourne, Mr Ioannou said the firm would seek to partner with private investors, high net worth individuals and family-run businesses.

“We see Melbourne as an opportunity to replicate our Adelaide business model, which is focused on delivering a higher level of client service,” he said.

“Our immediate objective is to provide property asset management services to the Melbourne market, and we will assess further business opportunities once we’re grounded, which is likely to include our property advisory services.”