Taylor Byrne has been expanding southwards and decided to merge with Cosgraves Property Advisers after finding the firms had a similar culture.

The move follows an initial approach being made by Cosgraves last November, with director Andrew Kemp saying his firm wanted to look at being a more diversified practice.

"We were looking for somebody that we had similarities with and that we had cultural and business synergies with and that's what we found with Taylor Byrne,” Mr Kemp said.

“I think the valuation industry as a whole is a very fast evolving industry which creates opportunities but also presents pressures for independent firms and being in a larger environment offers more opportunities."

Taylor Byrne residential head Geoff Duffield has been on the Border this week to coincide with the name change and signage switch at the Smollett Street office on Tuesday.

The Brisbane-based boss said the Albury merger was part of a continued push south by Taylor Byrne.

"This is the third office in the last 12 months that we've opened, Tamworth, Newcastle and now Albury-Wodonga,” Mr Duffield said.

"So we're on the march and we're very proactive in looking for opportunities to expand, but we're making sure the expansion is done organically by doing mergers with good quality firms."

The Albury office will be the 23^rd in the Taylor Byrne network with the company one of the top 10 valuation firms in Australia.

Taylor Byrne began in Brisbane in 1960 and has expanded as far north as Cairns with jobs across Australia.

Cosgraves began in 1988 under the guidance of the late Phil Cosgrave, who was a valuer for the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation in its heyday in the 1970s.

Bert Eastoe joined the firm in the same year and has seen it expand from two to 12 valuers and increase its turnover eight-fold as it took on jobs beyond the Border.

Although he has stepped aside as director of Cosgraves he plans to continue in the industry for another three to five years.

"Things are changing, we've done an incredible job to get it where it is, but we've got to look at future opportunities and developments,” Mr Eastoe said.

He said the big banks, who are key clients of the industry, had a preference for dealing with larger valuation companies.

Under the merger deal, Mr Eastoe and Mr Kemp and the two other Cosgraves shareholders Merv Hooper and Michael Quealy will shareholders and directors with Taylor Byrne.

The 17 staff employed at the Albury office would remain, Mr Kemp said.

Cosgraves has specialised in valuations in the tourism and leisure industry with alpine resorts, hotels, motels and caravan parks.

That knowledge is expected to be tapped into on a wider scale under the merger deal.