'Commercial real estate is in my DNA': How Joseph Assaf found his calling as a commercial agent
After 12 months working in residential real estate, agent Joseph Assaf was approached to start a commercial property division in his home city of Parramatta, in western Sydney.
He was delighted. “I really enjoyed working in residential, as I love working with people and forging relationships, but I thought commercial would probably be a much better fit,” he says today, 17 years on.
“I’d studied property economics at UTS, and I’ve always been more numbers driven, while resi is so emotion-driven. But I love calculating how I can add more value to a deal and come up with financial solutions to problems. It was a big learning curve, but I’ve never looked back.”
Since that start, Assaf, now 37, has transacted over $450 million in property value and, after being recruited to start a commercial division at Ray White 13 years ago, he’s been named one of the company’s top 50 agents internationally.
As a director at Ray White Commercial Western Sydney, he considers himself lucky to have discovered his passion early in life.
“I specialise in all the asset classes and really enjoy working with them all, especially when dealing with prime main road locations and landmark properties,” he says. “Coming into the commercial industry with no track record, I had to learn from the start, which gave me a really good grounding.
“I now love thinking outside the box and helping activate hubs and turn them into thriving precincts and areas. I’ve been able to become engaged and creative with the positioning of each asset and help it along its journey to becoming the best version of itself.”
An ardent advocate for Parramatta as the true centre of Sydney, he’s relished seeing its CBD grow upwards and outwards and become one of Australia’s biggest and most vibrant business centres.
The city recorded record levels of office leasing activity last year, at 68,000 square metres in the final quarter of 2021 alone, and has now hit the milestone of 1 million square metres of office stock, with the final building in the 50,000 square metre, $2.7 billion Parramatta Square set to complete this year as many major corporations move their headquarters out west. There’s also the Powerhouse Museum to come, as well as Metro West and the light rail under construction, which continue to attract companies.
One of Assaf’s proudest achievements was being involved in cementing a lease for the University of New England (UNE) to set up its Parramatta campus in the city’s historic first post office building in Church Street. A Parramatta heritage landmark, designed by colonial architect James Barnett – the man also behind the Sydney GPO building – it was built in 1878 over two storeys in the mannerist style, with stunning grey marble columns.
“It was wonderful to be able to help bring UNE into Parramatta and secure the properties for their campus … that must be coming up to 10 years ago now,” says Assaf, who’s also won a number of industry awards.
“That was definitely a highlight of my career. It was also such a big win for Parramatta, with so many students, physically and online, coming here to study. I saw Parramatta’s potential years ago, and happily, it’s now realising that potential.”
Another deal Assaf relished happened just as the pandemic arrived in April 2020. After a highly competitive expressions-of-interest campaign, Assaf, together with managing director Peter Vines and fellow director Victor Sheu, sold Breakfast Point’s historic Blacksmiths’ Workshop for a massive $7.3 million.
Built in 1891 with arched doors and windows and a vast outdoor terrace looking out to the Parramatta River, the building had become the last waterfront asset within the $2.5 billion master-planned 2650-home development and had been used, until its sale, by Rose Group and CBUS Property as their display suite.
“It was a beautiful heritage commercial property on Peninsula Drive, and I believe the new owners are looking to use it as a function centre or another commercial usage,” says Assaf.
“I enjoy the challenges that each property presents, and having experienced different property cycles and economically and socially turbulent times, I’m always ready to quickly adapt to the environment to do the best by my clients.”
These days, Assaf attributes his success to his eagerness to understand his clients’ needs and work hard to present an individual approach to each problem, or opportunity, that arises.
“Commercial real estate is in my DNA, and I don’t think there’s anything I’d rather do,” he says. “I genuinely enjoy adding value and solving problems, and that remains a core driver of my approach to both work and life.
“And I love looking at the Parramatta skyline and seeing how much it’s changed, and it feels great to have been a part of that change.”
