REIQ chairman Rob Honeycombe bows out but members kept in the dark about the real reasons for the move

THE chairman of Queensland’s peak real estate industry lobby group has stepped down unexpectedly but members have been kept in the dark about the real reasons for the move.

Illustration of Rod Honeycombe by Brett Lethbridge.

THE chairman of Queensland’s peak real estate industry lobby group has stepped down unexpectedly but members have been kept in the dark about the real reasons for the move.

The loss-making Real Estate Institute of Queensland alerted members earlier this month that Rob Honeycombe had resigned from his top post at the March board meeting after four years in the role.

City Beat has learned that Honeycombe, who runs Bees Nees City Realty in Brisbane and was reappointed as chairman in October, gave up the position for genuine personal reasons related to his family.

Suffice to say we’re not going to go in to the details of that one.

But instead of getting a sensitively airbrushed version of that reality, REIQ members were fed a load of canned bulldust.

A statement from the organisation stressed Honeycombe felt that “it was a good time to make way for new blood’’.

“The REIQ is in the process of developing a new three-year strategic plan that will propel this organisation forward into exciting new territory and, with my term expiring in October, I wanted to give someone else the opportunity to lead the organisation through this transition,” he said.

Replacing him is Peter Brewer, a longtimer in the industry even though it appears he’s not currently working as a property salesman.

Instead, he’s an REIQ board member who oversees the group’s digital media training.

He also runs a valuation business called whatsmyhomeworth.com.au which he describes as a “lead generation website to make life easier for real estate agents’’.

Rob Honeycombe.

RED INK FLOWING

HONEYCOMBE’S departure comes as the REIQ, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last month, continues to struggle financially.

The group’s most recent annual report shows it suffered a net loss of $281,390 in the last financial year and its total comprehensive income amounted to a negative $701,489. Cash on hand plunged by more than 50 per cent to just $1.63 million, while the move to a new $8 million headquarters in Cannon Hill cost the group $2.7 million after the sale of its former base in Coorparoo. The red ink is set to continue flowing this year and the group doesn’t expect to be back in the black for at least another three years.

How it will continue defying the laws of gravity is anyone’s guess. Despite the grim financial outlook, Honeycombe declined to comment yesterday on the figures and chose instead to say repeatedly that the group has “a pretty exciting future’’.

So where does this mess leave current CEO Antonia Mercorella?

As she well knows, it was a series of multimillion-dollar losses that prompted the REIQ board in 2014 to sack then-CEO Anton Kardash and appoint her in his place.

The following year, the REIQ pulled out of the national REIA umbrella group after weeks of denying that it was planning just such a move.

Quite a few members grumbled that they weren’t consulted ahead of time but Honeycombe justified the break by claiming the group would save more than $260,000 a year as a result.

He also trumpeted – prematurely, as it turns out – that the REIQ had already turned a financial corner.

“Financially, the REIQ is now in its best shape for some time,’’ Honeycombe said back then.

“There have been some tough recent years and the Institute’s pursued some expensive projects. But the decisions we’ve made in recent months, the changes we’ve made with your input, have already turned the organisation’s fortunes around.’’

Mercorella didn’t return a call seeking comment yesterday but her spin doctor said the group still had “a very healthy balance sheet’’ despite weathering ups and downs.