Our Mission
We are dedicated to establishing ourselves as the premier boutique real estate company in New Zealand. We accomplish this by providing our clients with the best people, knowledge and skills in the industry.When you choose to partner with us, it's not merely a business transaction—it's a personal connection, where we prioritise building meaningful relationships to ensure your unique needs are met.
Our Story
Property runs in the James Family DNA, Blair’s father Warwick ran successful residential and property management businesses under the Professionals umbrella for over 30 years. His Mother, Jenni, is a qualified town planner and together Warwick and Jenni have successfully completed numerous residential and commercial property projects.
Blair embarked on his own path in property, completing a Bachelor of Property Degree in Auckland in 2010. He began his agency work as a South Auckland Industrial broker at JLL, where he honed his skills for two years before venturing out on his own.
2012 – The family legacy continues
In 2012, Blair, at the age of 23, founded James Group, recognizing a need for a more transparent and personable approach to property. Starting from his old man’s spare office in Botany, the company emerged as a challenger to the established giants in the real estate industry. James Group was born.
2013-2015 – The emergence of Young Guns with Old school values.
At a time in the market where property was an industry dominated by an “old boys club” James Group introduced a fresh perspective, injecting new energy, knowledge, expertise and technology into the market. Blair began building a team of property experts with aligned values and big objectives. The South Auckland Industrial team was founded.
2016 – NZ’s fastest growing business.
In 2016, James Group achieved remarkable growth, earning the accolade of the Deloitte Fast50 26th fastest-growing company in New Zealand, with a remarkable year-on-year growth rate of over 311% for three consecutive years.
2017-2021 – The disruption era
James Group expanded its presence, venturing into the West and city fringe markets. Relocating to Manukau Road in Epsom, the team grew to 30 members and ventured into property management.
2022 – Rebrand, Relocate, Reposition, RELATIONSHIPS
Over the years James Group have gone from hungry, hard working fresh faces to an industry powerhouse agency. Having built and fostered life-long business relationships it was time to shift premises, and target markets (whilst not forgetting their roots) and double down on these. The Property management arm was sold after accepting this bolt on was a disruption to both the passion and core expertise of the business.
Current –
Since 2012, James Group has been building relationships with Kiwis who are passionate about property and today, 11 years on, the James Group family Legacy is thriving. Having completed over 2000 sale and lease transactions, the company has pivoted back to specialising in transactional real estate… the bread and butter, solidifying their position as an industry powerhouse.
James Group is an enterprise where clients matter and strong relationships are fostered. Welcome to an ongoing relationship in property!
Our culture
James Group is the unwritten synonym for “family” in the thesaurus. Whilst every business proudly showcases their core values on their boardroom walls, or their fancy letterheads, we walk ours rather than talking about them.
Every business environment is unique, ours feels like home. We work as a team to present a unique and united service offering to the market. We are ever conscious of the salesperson stereotypes passed down through the ages, we are the agency that are there with you in the trenches offering covering fire when times are tough. We are the ones that’ll shout the champagne and share in your success with a sense of pride as if it’s our own. What started as humble beginnings in a South Auckland sales office has become a family legacy through our collective passion…property.
For us, property isn’t just our livelihood, it’s our way of life. Like our predecessors, we too have dreams of our own homes with a grassy backyard (real grass!). We know the work must come before the play and together we strive for an unrivalled level of consistency through our service offerings to ensure you too can experience the James Group difference.
Our Founder
A natural entrepreneur and a born leader, Blair James is disrupting the commercial property market in Auckland.
Having worked for one of the world’s largest Property organisations, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Blair understands business at both a corporate and a front-line level. His strong leadership tendencies saw him leave one of the Corporate Goliaths of real estate to assume the role of the David amongst those Goliaths. As a highly motivated and competitive being, Blair starts his day with positivity and a can-do attitude. He thrives from challenges, telling him his goal is unachievable only motivates him more to show his tremendous capability. At the age of 22, Blair had begun building a team at JLL but was soon reminded of his level in the corporate pegging order so he took on the challenge (“unachievable” goal) and founded James Group – the incubator for the future super stars of property in New Zealand.
Blair takes great pride in being recognised as New Zealand’s Real Estate Manager of the Year. Celebrating his 10th year in business with his team of elite property professionals, and now 11 years into his journey at the head of James Group.
Blair has an unrivalled passion for property and strives to be one of the future property moguls of New Zealand.