Paris, France (April 15, 2019) — The exquisite Palace of Versailles — in the Gallery of Great Battles, a venue not open to the general public — hosted the Christie’s International Real Estate Affiliate of the Year awards ceremony for excellence in 2018. The world’s leading luxury real estate network proudly recognized the winners at a black-tie dinner at the Annual Global Owners Conference. The results are a closely guarded secret until the evening, when the results are announced.

Awards are given each year in four categories: the small market (population under 275,000), medium market (275,000–1,750,000 population) and large market (population above 1,750,000) categories with the top honor given to the overall winner regardless of market size. Criteria used are business innovation, market leadership, passion to succeed in the local and global marketplace under the Christie’s International Real Estate brand, and collaboration with network colleagues and the Christie’s art auction house.

Recipients honored this year were:

Overall Winners — A three-way tie among Special Properties Real Estate Services of New Jersey, Coastal Properties Group International of Florida and Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers
Small Market Winners — A tie between Newport Realty of Victoria, British Columbia, and BlackStream International Real Estate of South Carolina
Medium Market Winner — Maxwell-Baynes Real Estate of Bordeaux, France
Large Market Winner — Greeff Properties of Cape Town, South Africa

Chief Executive Officer of Christie’s International Real Estate, Dan Conn, said: “We have never had a tie, much less a three-way tie for these awards. This speaks volumes to our global network, the world leader in luxury, and the quality of the brokerages invited to join. What is notable about the overall winners is that all three — Special Properties, Coastal Properties and Hawaii Life — were recognized in the three market categories last year. All three continued to push their standards of excellence and achieved top honors this year. Congratulations to all seven of our winners for their passion for their businesses, their network leadership, and for seizing growth opportunities through their collaboration with Christie’s and Christie’s International Real Estate.

The winners’ achievements were as follows:

Special Properties Real Estate Services, originally headquartered in Bergen County, New Jersey, opened its first five brokerages in 2017, with the Mahwah office rising to number one in the market for both sales and listings by dollar volume. The company, under the leadership of Ilija Pavlovic, has since expanded into Morris and Essex counties, and Hoboken, New Jersey. In 2018, Special Properties reported a four-fold increase in both the number of transactions and revenue in volume sold. Special Properties was a sponsor of Christie’s landmark auction of the Rockefeller Collection and Christie’s International Real Estate’s sponsorship of the Concours d’Elegance auto show in Pebble Beach. In February 2019, Mr. Pavlovic announced his separate affiliation with our network into Westchester and Hudson Valley in New York under the Christie’s International Real Estate brand.

Coastal Properties Group International of Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida, recently expanded into Tampa. Principal Alex Jansen and his team of 12 top producers, including his wife, Laren, left a national franchise to start their own brokerage with Christie’s International Real Estate branding in July of 2012. Over the course of almost seven years, their sales grew from US$140,000,000 to nearly US$1,000,000,000 this year with over 220 agents in 13 offices. The Jansens recently relocated with their family to Colorado and entered into an innovative partnership with Christie’s International Real Estate to open a branded Aspen brokerage. A month later, they partnered with the area’s top independent firm, Aspen Associates Realty, to grow Christie’s International Real Estate Aspen together.

Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers,now covering the entire state of Hawaii, was opened by Matt Beall and Winston Welborn in 2008, and expanded to the island of Oahu in 2017, having already achieved significant sales on the Big Island, Kauai and Maui. In 2018, Hawaii Life announced it had joined forces with Patricia Choi, celebrated for her 30-year record of success on Oahu, and Mauna Kea Realty, the exclusive brokerage for the famed resort of the same name on the Big Island. Last year, the firm achieved US$1,700,000,000 in sales, a 54 percent gain over 2017, posting 110 transactions above US$3,000,000, up from 41 to year before. The company’s top sale was a US$46,100,000 estate on Oahu, a record for the state. The Hawaii Life Charitable Fund, managed by volunteer agents from the company, last year contributed nearly $200,000 for disaster relief from recent flooding and wildfires.

BlackStream International Real Estate, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, specialized in commercial real estate before entering the residential market five years ago. Ford Elliot, CEO, was awarded the Christie’s International Real Estate affiliation in February 2017 joining with only a handful of agents. By the end of the year, the firm had grown to 25 brokers and closed 156 transactions and by 2018, doubled its agent count and tripled sales in Greenville, which was recently voted the 10th best place to live in the United States by Livability magazine. BlackStream also joined with Charlotte, North Carolina, brokerage Ivester Jackson, last year’s Overall Affiliate of the Year winner, to open a new brokerage entity with offices in the art town of Asheville, North Carolina — the first collaboration of its type in network history.

Newport Realty in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, embarked on a unique venture last year, a television program airing on a regional station with Newport realtors introducing luxury real estate in 13 international markets, from France and Thailand to Mexico. The segments explored the country featured, the network Affiliate operating in the area, a property for sale and the merits of investing. Another initiative was the company’s video advertising at the Victoria International Airport, showcasing a luxury listing viewed by an estimated one million passengers a year. Victoria was cited as among the world’s hottest real estate cities in the 2018 edition of Luxury Defined, the annual state of the global market issued by Christie’s International Real Estate. Overall, the market remained robust throughout the year, posting 962 sales above US$1,000,000 compared to 736 to year prior.

Maxwell-Baynes Real Estate, headquartered in Bordeaux, France, has for eight years been the network’s expert on vineyard sales. The firm joined Christie’s International Real Estate in 2010 as a start-up and eight years later dominated the Bordeaux vineyard market achieving three times the sales volume of its nearest competitor. Last year the company also posted a record with the €9,000,000 sale of Château de Cadillac. Maxwell-Baynes is also a long-time sponsor of Vin Expo, one of the world’s largest wine fairs. In addition to hosting a booth with Christie’s International Real Estate marketing materials on prominent display, the company invites Christie’s wine specialists to attend, even offering them office space at Maxwell-Baynes newly opened building in a premier location Bordeaux’s city center to meet with wine clients, many of whom were referred by the real estate team.

Greeff Properties in Cape Town, South Africa, recently completed a thorough re-branding inspired by Christie’s 2017 all-time record sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Salvator Mundi for US$450,000,000 — the most expensive work of art ever sold. Greeff adopted Christie’s color palette of grey, white and red, including a red dot, to symbolize the red dot placed on sold pieces of art. The re-branding now appears on all the company’s marketing collateral, from wines and watches to pens and stationary. In 2017, the company posted 19 luxury home sales, which doubled to 39 in 2018. The top price was R62,000,000 for Buitenzorg, a homestead in Constantia Upper, achieving a record for the area. Greeff also supports robust social media and blog platforms, as well as a top-quality print publication.

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About Christie’s International Real Estate

Christie’s International Real Estate has successfully marketed high-value real estate around the world for more than 30 years. Through its New York City brokerage and invitation-only Affiliate network spanning 48 countries and territories, Christie’s International Real Estate offers incomparable services to a global clientele at the luxury end of the residential property market. The company has offices in London, New York City, Hong Kong, Moscow, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Palm Beach, and its affiliated brokerages have recorded approximately US$500 billion of real estate transactions over the last five years. (Data as of March 31, 2019). For additional information, please visit www.christiesrealestate.com.