Raine & Horne Northern Beaches pushes from Mona Vale to Manly on a team-first model

Raine & Horne Northern Beaches has extended its footprint from its Mona Vale base into Dee Why and Manly, giving principal Ben Spackman's team coverage from Manly through to Avalon.

The office, launched in 2017, finished fourth for Sales Gross Commission Income and among the top 10 offices for transactions at the 2026 Raine & Horne NSW/ACT Awards. Mr Spackman finished second among principals for Sales GCI, while agent Sam Bruton was named among the group's top 10 salespeople for Sales GCI and transactions.

"Old-school" prospecting, no internal competition

Mr Spackman credits a disciplined prospecting routine and a structure that stops agents competing for the same listings.

"I honestly think we're like old-school real estate business. We're very heavy-handed on prospecting and very KPI-driven. We also aim for no inter-competition between our agents in core suburbs," he said.

The rhythm is simple: "The AM hours are for prospecting, and the PM is for appraisal and listing appointments," he said. When an agent lists in another's core patch, the two collaborate — one supports marketing while the other runs the campaign through to settlement.

Developing associates into leaders

Mr Bruton is the office's case study. After two years with another local agency, he joined as Mr Spackman's associate and wrote almost $700,000 in GCI in his first year, having never previously exceeded $80,000 annually.

"Hunger's a massive thing for sales agents, and we've nailed that down with our recruitment. You can't buy hunger," Mr Spackman said.

Why expand

The move into Dee Why and Manly is designed to diversify the business across distinct sub-markets. "We just wanted to make sure that we bulletproofed the business by way of having other areas that were more transactional," he said.

Where buyers are active

Mr Spackman said the middle Northern Beaches — including Brookvale, Collaroy, Cromer, Narrabeen, Freshwater, Curl Curl, North Curl Curl, Narraweena and Beacon Hill — are currently the region's most active markets, "even for properties closer to $3 million".

The office's biggest sale this year, however, was 26 Ingleside Road, Ingleside, a family estate on about 4,000 square metres that sold for $6.6 million in July.

He said buyer activity was holding despite what the release describes as the Federal Government's changes to investment property taxation and RBA rate rises. "The policies our government has put in place around investors, and even first home buyers, just don't make sense," he said.

On affordability, Dee Why's density offers a lower entry point. "You can buy two-bedroom apartments now for as low as $875,000," Mr Spackman said, compared with "much under $1.05 million" being unlikely for a two-bedroom unit in tightly held Mona Vale.

Brand and community

Mr Spackman said Raine & Horne's family ownership and its approach to territory planning — avoiding internal competition between neighbouring offices — was a drawcard for his agents. The team supports Mona Vale Surf Life Saving Club, Mona Vale Soccer Club and Pittwater Soccer Club.

Source: Raine & Horne media release, 30 September 2026.