Victorian underquoting laws: Expert calls on Allan government to release review
The REIV is calling on the government to start fresh consultation on how to improve fairness in the property sector. The peak real estate lobby group is also now backing mandatory pre-auction disclosure of reserve prices by sellers, in a significant policy pivot announced on Monday.
Premier Jacinta Allan earlier this month. Credit: Eddie Jim
'Reserve price disclosure isn't just backed by consumer advocates, even the Real Estate Institute of Victoria and leading property industry figures support it,' said Greens public and affordable housing spokeswoman Gabrielle de Vietri. 'With the public and industry on board, Labor has no excuse to delay.'
Premier Jacinta Allan said she would seek advice on that proposal and also the merits of a model that would result in those selling their home providing prospective buyers with a free pest and building inspection documents.
'We are open to looking at what we can do to make the property market fairer for everyone,' Allan said.
She described underquoting as a 'pretty shabby practice, which is why we're cracking down on it and made it illegal'.
Enzo Raimondo, pictured in 2014 when he led the REIV. Credit: Fairfax
Raimondo said he couldn't disclose the recommendations made by him and his property market review co-author, consumer advocate Carolyn Bond, due to a confidentiality agreement. But he confirmed the 2022 report did include recommendations he believed would reduce the prevalence of underquoting.
'We spent months on it. We interviewed consumers, we interviewed industry groups, we interviewed agents, and there's some, I think, excellent recommendations on the issue of reserve price [disclosure],' he said.
'It's odd that the review, which is meant to assist, hasn't been released … I can only speak for myself and not the other panel members, but I was certainly disappointed that it wasn't released and at least debated openly on what should occur.'
When asked if there was any reason not to make the report public, Allan said the report was a cabinet document, and she was more focused on 'acting now, leading the nation in cracking down on illegal underquoting'.
Raimondo said the review received fairly consistent feedback from the public that agents were providing price guides that were off the mark.
He said while agents would use the excuse that they're not property valuers, they generally worked in the same sector for a long period and should know their market.
The use of three comparable properties to justify price guides was being manipulated by agents and the criteria around this needed to be tightened up, Raimondo said.
'In Victoria, it's not a bad system. It's just that it's not being used correctly,' he said.
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