James Chan has been specialising in the sale of commercial property for nearly 25 years and is the only salesperson among Bayleys Real Estate’s nationwide commercial and industrial team to have achieved gross sales of more than $1 billion, placing him within an elite group of high achievers within the industry. 

James is head of Bayleys’ Auckland-based international sales division, a team of multilingual salespeople specialising in servicing the property requirements of both offshore and local South East Asian investors.

James has been a top performing salesperson for many years, winning both Bayleys and the Real Estate Institute Salesperson of the Year (REINZ) awards on numerous occasions.  Most recently, he was winner of Bayleys’ nationwide top auction agent award for 2011/2012; winner of Bayleys’ national top commercial and industrial salesperson award in 2011/2012 and runner up in 2012/2013; and runner up in REINZ national salesperson of the year award for 2011/2012.

High profile retail property portfolio auction and tender campaigns he has managed include the sale of close to 30 retail units in the Rialto Centre in Newmarket, more than units in the Lincoln North Shopping Centre and all nine units put up for auction in the Merton East Convenience Centre in St Johns. Larger sales include the Carlton DFK Centre office, retail and carparking building on Broadway, Newmarket sold to an offshore investor for $16.7 million, and so far in 2013, the sale of the 68-unit Ascot Mews motel and boarding house complex in Robert Street, Ellerslie for $7,000,000 and REINZ House in Parnell Road for $6,225,000.  Land sales include substantial cliff top sections and major residential development sites at Flat Bush and Henderson.

Born in Hong Kong,  James is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese as well as English and says his “rich cultural base” gives him a point of difference in the marketplace. “I try to bridge the Kiwi and Asian way of thinking, acting as a mediator between the two. I also always try and create an outcome that produces a win-win for both vendors and buyers.”

Like many young Chinese,James  went overseas to study and graduated from Melbourne University with a pharmacy and business studies degree. He came to New Zealand in the mid 1980s and joined Bayleys to assist with the establishment of its Asian division.

In the time he has worked for Bayleys, James has built up a vast network of contacts both within New Zealand and throughout South East Asia. These not only include investors but also banks and financiers, lawyers, immigration consultants and other professionals. Due to "word of mouth" and as the result of numerous successful transactions over many years, James has built a level of trust and reputation which means clients personally seek out his advice.