REAL estate industry pioneer, Max Raine, the former long-term chairman of property group Raine & Horne, has passed away at the age of 91.
Raine passed away Wednesday in Sydney’s Drayton House aged care facility in Rose Bay, following a battle with dementia over the last couple of years.
Born in 1931, Raine attended Sydney Grammar, Sydney, and joined the family business of Raine & Horne at age 18, rising to become chairman in 1973. He was the third generation Raine family member to lead the firm, and remained an active leader within Raine & Horne until his retirement in 2011.
Raine was known as a key innovator in Australia’s real estate industry, pioneering the growth of suburban real estate offices in the late 1960s and introducing franchising to the property industry in the 1970s. Under his stewardship, the Raine & Horne brand grew to over 300 offices across Australia. He also pioneered the first overseas franchised offices by launching a network in Malaysia in the late 1980s.
Today, more than 3,000 people globally are part of the Raine & Horne Group, which sold $10 billion worth of real estate and managed over 120,000 properties worldwide in 2022.
“The real estate industry has lost one of its most forceful and influential advocates with the passing of Max Raine,” said Brian Reid, director of Raine & Horne Group, who worked side by side with Raine as the group’s former CEO as well as during a previous stint in investment sales in the 1980s.
“Max was a driving force in the generational change that saw the emergence of national franchising businesses in the 1970s and 1980s.”
“Max could see the continuing sophistication of the commercial property market along with the emergence of listed property trusts and launched Raine & Horne Commercial in 1984 as a separate brand that boasts 36 offices around Australia today.”
Raine was responsible for lobbying the government and was consistently quoted in the media.
“I know many people in the past would have received one of Max’s penned handwritten letters to suggest some alternative to an opinion they might have expressed, or of course, to congratulate them on an anniversary or a birthday. He was also prolific in his letters to offices who had achieved a positive mention in the press. Many of our principals still have these handwritten letters today,” Reid said.
Raine served on many boards and committees, including the City Branch of the Real Estate Institute of NSW, Council of Auctioneers Education Committee, Corporate Committee of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), Anglican Retirement Villages Foundation, Barnardos and Edina Retirement Villages. In 1988, ne was appointed by the NSW Government as Chairman Ministerial Enquiry into Inner City Accommodation.
