Christchurch realtor reclaims Harcourts’ top spot

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Christchurch realtor reclaims Harcourts’ top spot

21 May 2009 – Christchurch real estate star Alison Aitken has reclaimed the top spot in Harcourts after five years as Number Two, last night being named Harcourts Number One Sales Consultant in New Zealand and Number One in Australasia for 2008/09.

Ms Aitken, who was Harcourts New Zealand Number One from 1999 – 2002, achieved the top honour ahead of New Plymouth’s Glenn Green and fellow Christchurch realtor Mark O’Loughlin, who were second and third respectively in both New Zealand and Australasia.

The announcement was made at Harcourts New Zealand’s National Awards dinner in Auckland at which around 700 people honoured the group’s top offices and individuals, who also included Harcourts Invercargill realtor David McKillop who was named Top Commercial Sales Consultant of 2008/09, Harcourts Hamilton’s Shaun Cosgrave who was named Top Rural Sales Consultant of the year and Upper Hutt’s Mike Ledger who was named Harcourts New Zealand Rising Star of 2008/09.

Based in Harcourts Grenadier Real Estate Ltd’s Christchurch City office, Ms Aitken is one of the highest profile realtors in New Zealand with an impressive track record of settled sales in Canterbury and dozens of regional, national and international real estate awards to her credit.

Her latest success follows news earlier this month that for an unprecedented 10th year in a row she was Number One Sales Consultant in Harcourts’ Christchurch region.

Last year named Number Two in Harcourts New Zealand and third in the group internationally, Ms Aitken says she is “ecstatic” to be back at Number One and also to win the Top National Auction/Tender Lister award after a tough 12 – 18 months in real estate and having also trained for and competed in the Coast to Coast multisport challenge.

“It was certainly a busy year for me and a challenging time in real estate, but it’s also been a time in which good, professional agents with a strong auction focus have really been able to excel,” she says.

Ms Aitken, who is supported by a team of four, says after almost 20 years she still loves her job.

“I pride myself on my passion for the business, my market knowledge and the time and effort I put into understanding my clients’ needs, constant communication, innovative marketing and of course achieving results. Loving what I do it helps make it easy.”

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says Ms Aitken’s ongoing success is inspirational.

“Since starting her career in this industry with Harcourts in 1991 Alison’s name has become synonymous with real estate success. She has earned a fantastic reputation as a real estate professional based on the results she achieves and the exceptional customer service she provides, together resulting in a phenomenal level of repeat and referral business.”

Mr Thomson says Alison’s profile-marketing and auction focus are also keys to her success in the competitive Christchurch market.

Ms Aitken says she is confident about the year ahead.

“Over the past few months we’ve seen an increase in activity and I think that is going to continue. Investors are back in the market and with low interest rates many people are looking to upgrade because they can now afford to service a bigger loan, so as long as we get more listings the market should keep ticking over okay.”

Harcourts is New Zealand’s largest real estate group, with approximately 180 offices nationwide, around 1700 sales consultants and a growing property management team. In total Harcourts has more than 600 offices and 4000 property professionals throughout New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Singapore, China, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia.

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