GUY TOLHURST has been appointed to concentrate exclusively on the sale of overseas homes for York-based Hunters Estate Agency.

Mr Tolhurst, 27, was formerly head of marketing for the ten-branch agency, but has now built up foreign sales to such a degree that he is dedicating all his time to the task.

He heads up a unit employing five people to market properties in nine countries, including Dubai, Canada and standard holiday destinations all over Europe and as far east as Poland.

Mr Tolhurst and his team have just pulled off one of the organisation's biggest-ever deals - the sale of 62 apartments in the Algarve, Portugal, to an Irish investor for £6.8 million.

Now he is hoping to smash that record with the sale of 300 town houses in the Canary Islands for £43.5 million.

In three years, Hunters Overseas Homes has built up its infrastructure of on-the-ground agents to such a degree that it now offers other estate agents services under their own brand names.

Stepping into the breach on the marketing side is Lesley Willoughby.

She joins Hunters as head of marketing, having previously worked as an advertising sales manager at the Evening Press.

Updated: 09:12 Tuesday, August 16, 2005