Another award has been added to the mantelpiece after he was named individual commercial and industrial salesperson of the year for the third year in a row at the REINZ Awards for Excellence.
Colliers’ Canterbury industrial sales and leasing director has played a part in most of the major industrial properties changing hands in the South Island.
Among highlights have been the $75 million Countdown Fresh Distribution Centre, a nearly $54m group of 13 buildings known as Castle Rock Industrial Park, the $40m sale of Hellers HQ and $39m sale of Goodman Glassworks Industrial Park.
Mr Staite said he was honoured to receive the award again as it was always good to be recognised against every agency nationally.
“Time in the seat and experience has probably helped as I’ve been doing this for more than 17 years in the commercial market. If I had to put it down to something it would be a strong network of clients and just the strength of the Canterbury market.”
He said the Christchurch and wider market had attracted national investment because it was performing well.
“Out-of-town capital interest in Canterbury is increasing year on year, which is really positive and means more liquidity and some better results coming in.”
He said much of Colliers’ business was from loyal clients who kept coming back.
Maintaining work discipline was part of being a good salesperson, as well as being fluid as working days were often driven out by the market and outside his control, he said.
He tried to work hard during the working week to get family balance at the weekends and this often suited the trading hours of businesses.
Sometimes he just had to do the hours to get through the work, he said.
He ran an industrial team of nine brokers for the company, who often worked together on major listings.
Sales to cross the line this year included the 32ha historic Smithfield meat processing plant site in Timaru sold by Alliance Group.
Some deals arrived with the snap of a finger and others were years in the making, he said.
He took pride in seeing sales come together, but had not set a career target.
Nor had he counted up their total value after passing the $1b mark.
“The Countdown sales was a couple of years ago now and we have a lot of career highlights, not just in sales, but in some really big design-build leasing transactions as well. Last week we sold something for just over $40m that was a great property and the second time we sold it, so it’s nice when they come back around again.”
Large leasing deals included a design-build warehouse of about 25,000sq m which was under construction in Hornby.
Greater rewards than sales commissions kept him motivated.
“Seeing our city and region grow is rewarding. One of the most enjoyable parts of the job is assisting businesses with finding the right premises to help them expand and the resulting new employment it provides. That keeps it fresh.”
Industrial real estate often had some markets firing more than others because it varied widely, from the sales and leasing of buildings, vacant buildings and land to investment and design-build properties.
He said Canterbury had performed exceptionally well in areas such as investment stock because of low capital rates and out-of-town interest when the national market had been challenging during the past three years.
A subdued leasing market had resulted in several large-scale transactions being completed in the past two to three months. Sluggish land sales were also “ticking up”, more land having been sold the past few months than in the 18 months before.
Mr Staite said Canterbury often did well when agriculture was performing because it was more of a production, export and distribution market than other centres, which were often more consumer focused.
The awards recognised 46 winners in the real estate industry.
Chief executive Lizzy Ryley said real estate professionals in all sectors were navigating a changing market and finding new ways to grow, adapt and support clients.
In residential sales, Bayleys Wānaka won medium residential office of the year.
