Marty Fox is rewriting the rules when it comes to real estate. When he founded WHITEFOX Real Estate alongside his wife in 2017, he focused on making real estate a lifestyle brand. It turned out to be a winning formula.

“When we launched, it wasn’t about doing what everyone else was doing; it was about going against the grain and understanding where the world was going with social media and branding,” says Fox, who is a finalist in The CEO Magazine’s 2025 Executive of the Year Awards in the Property Development and Real Estate category.

“I was inspired by beautiful brands and my theory was that people who owned beautiful homes loved these types of brands, but no-one was matching that level of quality or presentation. So it was about sticking to our tone of voice, our visual identity and dropping the suit and tie to connect with buyers better on weekends to essentially mirror how they were showing up.

“Having more females in our agency than most of our competitors, elevating people within the business quicker than most of our competitors. Being smart, casual and friendly, but still remaining luxury was the winning strategy for me.”

Bold vision

Unsurprisingly, clients were instantly attracted to Fox’s powerful ethos, approach and energy. In just eight years, WHITEFOX has flourished into an international real estate leader. Born in Melbourne, the company took its vision international with a 2023 launch in New Zealand, followed by rapid growth into Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney, with Dubai soon to follow.

“We’re taking on the global stage,” Fox reveals. “We’re taking on the biggest brands with pockets that are a thousand times deeper than ours – but money doesn’t penetrate markets, the brand does. Our vision was to attract more eyeballs and our brand pillars were to be bold, polished and matter-of-fact in the way in which we do things.”

Clear communication is an essential component of the WHITEFOX mentality, which sees clients provided with straightforward, transparent information.

“People love that when we were going into appraisals, we would say, ‘We’re not giving you our opinion of value, we’re actually determining what it’s worth through four different mathematical algorithms,’” Fox explains.

“We would look at comparable sales, capital growth, land value and what the replacement value would be if it was a new build. Those four valuation metrics determine what the home really would be worth, from a buyer’s perspective. We list on fact and sell through emotion.”

While the team may be spread across 17 offices, there is total unity when it comes to how WHITEFOX operates.

“These offices and these agents and these clients are nurtured by the same thinkers,” Fox explains. “Reach is everything because buyers, particularly in the luxury market, are not confined to one city. We’re seeing some of our clients doing transactions in three or four locations with WHITEFOX and everything is consistent because our engine room, the think tank, the marketing, the leadership, the training, the support, it’s all coming from the one source.”

With annual revenue of over US$20 million, increasing by 287 percent year-on-year in Australia, it’s clear that WHITEFOX is still very much on the up. Of the company’s journey thus far, Fox is immensely proud of what’s already been achieved.

“I remember there was one year where we sold in over 50 suburbs across Melbourne, and that was because it was about following the customer and their networks and actually delivering the same marketing strategies, but just with different asset classes in different areas,” he says. “So really partnering up with our clients and not being so transactional.”

Family values

Fox believes that culture is king when it comes to ensuring a cohesive and efficient team environment.

“First and foremost, it’s a family business. I’ve got 11 family members working in the company, and those values have carried through to each and every staff member,” he points out.

“We deliberately limit the amount of people per office because it forces collaboration when you’ve got less than 12 people in an office – it forces you to speak to your colleagues and build that culture through cracking deal codes, which in turn raises the overall average income levels of the group.”

As a result, staff retention is high because employees feel supported yet empowered, with a pervading sense of company ownership irrespective of the individual role.

In 2021, following a bout of sickness that saw him bedridden for six months, Fox decided to hang up his seller’s gloves, so to speak, and step into the role of CEO full-time.

“I stopped listing and selling to become the person who passed on wisdom to other agents about what they needed to do to become the best agent and leader within their offices,” he explains.

“My personal leadership philosophy is that I’ve never asked someone to do something that I haven’t done myself. Being in real estate for coming up to 20 years, and leading offices for nearly 16 of those years, I have a lot of wisdom at 38 years of age!”

This shift enabled Fox to focus on strategy, systems and scale – a smart move, given that WHITEFOX is growing faster than ever before. Now, his empire extends beyond WHITEFOX and even further into the public eye, thanks to a permanent judging position on Channel 9’s The Block.

From struggle to success

Fox’s life today is a far cry from his upbringing, which he believes ultimately made him not only stronger, but also driven to always strive harder.

“I haven’t come from money, I’ve come from a home where, for many years, my brother and I shared a bedroom with my mom, me on the top bunk and my mom and brother on the bottom bunk,” Fox reveals.

“I’ve seen a lot of things, I’ve lived in multiple countries, I’ve seen parents get married six times, I’ve lived in over 50 different homes. I’ve been subjected to bullying as well as being the best of the best in the field that I’ve put my life into.

“So I’ve seen the ups and downs of not only life, but also of business. I’ve come close to seeing WHITEFOX fail on multiple occasions.”

Privilege wasn’t what built WHITEFOX, he explains. It was passion, perseverance and plenty of hard work.

“I know that you don’t have to be given things in order to make something of yourself,” he reflects. “What you do need is love, support and trust. I’m essentially utilizing those same gifts that I was given to my team. I trust them, I love them and I let them fly.”

While Fox admits there’s no such thing as a day off for him, that’s precisely how he likes it.

“I don’t need one, because I love what I’m doing,” he says with a smile. “I work with my family and my colleagues are friends. I love them as people and I’m driven by growth.

“If I’m not getting smarter, if I’m not increasing my network, if I’m not creating freedom and memories, then I don’t consider that the correct use of my life.”