LJ Hooker is one of Australia's largest real estate groups, with 600 franchise offices and 6,000 people engaged in residential and commercial property sales and property management. The company was founded in 1928 by Sir Leslie Joseph Hooker and after being sold to a private company for 20 years, the company returned to family hands in 2009.

History

The first LJ Hooker office was opened in Maroubra, New South Wales in 1928.AAP
“Suncorp sells Hooker Corp to founder's grandson”
The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 October 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2017. Following the Depression, the company expanded and opened offices in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, Kingsford and Randwick. In 1936, LJ Hooker purchased the real estate business and offices of Woods & Co. in Kensington and Kingsford. In 1938, Rex Investments is registered and purchased real-estate agencies and hotels around Australia. The following year, LJ Hooker established its headquarters in Pitt Street, Sydney by buying H. L. Cross & Co., a city agency. In 1946, LJ Hooker bought the real estate business of Harold Bray Pty Ltd in

Bondi Beach Bondi Beach () is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of ...

. In 1947, the company was floated on the Sydney Stock Exchange. The following year, LJ Hooker purchased F. Egan & Son, a real estate agency in Bondi Junction. In 1949, the company expanded into hotel brokerage. In 1950, the tenth office was opened in Crows Nest and in 1951 the Manly office was opened after the purchase of Thorn Coleman & Co. LJ Hooker's expansion continued, and by 1953 the agency was the largest real estate agency in Australia.Hooker, N. LJ Hooker The Man, 2011. In 1955 Hooker Rex was established for the development of new homes in

Batemans Bay Batemans Bay is a town in the South Coast region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Batemans Bay is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council. The town is situated on the shores of an estuary formed where the Clyde River meets the ...

, Kogarah and the Gold Coast through Hooker Rex Pty Ltd. In 1958, the company's name was changed to L. J. Hooker Investment Corporation Ltd. In 1959, the Hooker Finance company was established. In 1960, LJ Hooker became Australia's first national real estate agency network. The following year, Hooker Projects began developing nursing homes, motels and other projects. In 1963, Hooker House was opened in Sydney. Hooker Project offices were opened in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1966,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in 1967,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in 1968, and

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

and

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

in 1969. In 1968, the company's name changed to Hooker Corporation Ltd. In 1969, Hooker Home Units was established, which specialised in building home units and town houses. Leslie Joseph Hooker died in 1976. In 1985, George Herscu bought the Hooker Group for $450 million.Allen, Lis
“Disgraced tycoon George Herscu dies at 85”
"

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

", 21 December 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2017. In 1989, LJ Hooker owed $1.77 billion, and was purchased by Suncorp Metway. In 2009, Janusz Hooker, Leslie Hooker's grandson, formed a consortium with other buyers and bought the company back from Suncorp-Metway for $67 million. In 2015, Janusz Hooker and other shareholders bought out the minority shareholders to consolidate ownership of the company.

International expansion

In the mid-1980s, while led briefly by CEO George Herscu, LJ Hooker crossed into development and acquisition of retailers and large scale shopping complexes in the United States. During this period LJ Hooker also acquired Merrill Lynch Commercial Real Estate in an effort to infuse seasoned Commercial Real estate expertise into its retail development arm. Robert Rodriguez (Sr. VP) and Dennis Mulligan (VP) led the retail real estate group for Merrill Lynch Commercial Real estate. This move proved ill-conceived, with such ventures as the purchase and operation of several storied American department store chains as B. Altman & Co., Bonwit Teller, Sakowitz and Parisian stores, to be used as anchors for a number of large shopping malls in the United States. Having no track record in understanding the complex operations required to run retail department stores, this venture proved deeply flawed and plunged LJ Hooker, the department stores and its various development holdings into bankruptcy. Most of the department store chains were liquidated with large economic and employment losses. The one mall complex that was constructed during Herscu's tenure, the Forest Fair Mall in suburban

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio, went through numerous changes in ownership and operations. Today the ill-fated mall is still struggling, having gone through three name changes. This period, although brief in its history, was deeply tumultuous and troubling and led to LJ Hooker Limited being purchased by the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

based Suncorp-Metway, in January 1989. LJ Hooker was liquidated in the late 1980s, but the name continued through the franchise arrangement that continues. In 1997, it opened offices in Hong Kong and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

Acquisitions

In 1996, LJ Hooker purchased the Challenge Realty Group in New Zealand and in 1998 they rebranded it as LJ Hooker. In 2003, LJ Hooker purchased the real estate franchise group Olsen & Everson. In 2002, LJ Hooker opened its first offices in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and in 2004, LJ Hooker opened offices in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. In October 2004, Grahame Cooke stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Warren McCarthy. In October 2009, Suncorp confirmed it sold its LJ Hooker real estate chain business to Janusz Hooker, the grandson of founder Sir Leslie Hooker, for $67 million. In July 2015, he also bought out the investors to take full control of the group. In November 2010, LJ Hooker acquired Harveys Real Estate Group in New Zealand.

Organisation

Hooker Corporation Limited is the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, and LJ Hooker Limited is the trading entity. Hooker Corporation Limited's ACN is 003 890 444 and the ACN of L.J. Hooker Limited is 003 890 4553. LJ Hooker is a franchise operation. The real estate side of the business is done by franchise owners. Grant Harrod was appointed chief executive officer and managing director in 2014. The company chairman is Janusz Hooker.

Subsidiaries

LJ Hooker has also established an independent incorporated

legal practice Legal practice is sometimes used to distinguish the body of judicial or administrative precedents, rules, policies, customs, and doctrines from legislative enactments such as statutes and constitutions which might be called "laws" in the strict ...

trading as LJ Hooker Conveyancing NSW, which is a division of Guardian Conveyancers Pty Ltd (ACN 136 790 022). The business is independently owned and operated under licence from LJ Hooker Limited. LJ Hooker Conveyancing is located in Sydney. In

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

it uses LJ Hooker Settlements to do their

conveyancing In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contract ...

.https://ljhookersettlements.com.au

Logos

File:LJ Hooker Logo 1937.png, 1937 File:LJ Hooker Logo 1948.png, 1948 File:LJ Hooker Logo 1953.png, 1953 File:LJ Hooker Logo 1959.png, 1959 File:LJ Hooker Logo 1969.png, 1969 File:LJ Hooker Logo 1993.png, 1993 File:LJ_Hooker_Logo_in_2015.png, 2015 (a similar logo was used in the 2000s)

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Sydney Franchises Real estate companies of Australia Residential real estate Australian companies established in 1928