GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why this principal turns away vendors he can't connect with

Matt Micallef walked away from a listing on the morning of this interview. Not because the numbers didn't work, but because he didn't feel the "energy and synergy" was there. It's a call the Ray White TMG owner makes often, and it's part of an approach he credits for 43 per cent of his business now coming through referrals.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The middle number rule: why Matt's team refuses to chase either end of the vendor–buyer price gap, and what they focus on instead.
• The plan D habit: how mapping alternative strategies before auction day even starts changes what happens when strategy A falls over.
• The daily call trick: Matt's blunt advice for newer agents with only one or two listings – and why he says it "takes no skill" to do it.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH BUYERSAGENTS.COM.AU

Picture the version of your day where you're not toggling between three tabs just to confirm a comparable sale before a client call. That's the bet behind BuyersagentsOS's new deal with Cotality: RP Data's suburb stats, sales history and full property reports built straight into the platform's CRM and research tools, so the numbers are just there when you need them.

Leon Hayes, CEO of Buyersagents.com.au, is calling it the biggest shift in data access buyers' agents have seen.

BuyersagentsOS launches Monday 14 September at a live event – buyers' agents who register get a seven-day free trial.

Learn more →

DEPT OF MARKETING

Why Will Gosse wants the property to be the star

Personal branding sells, but BresicWhitney CEO Will Gosse reckons it's the wrong thing to build a business around. He argues agencies chasing agent profiles are missing what customers actually want – strong property representation and a recognisable team behind it. Founder Shannan Whitney says the gap between individual agents and brand value is "getting wider and wider".

Read the full article →

DEPT OF ECONOMICS

The Sydney suburbs tipped to fall least

Even suburbs with under a month of housing stock are still forecast to fall – that's how much borrowing power has been squeezed. Shore Financial's latest report picks Hebersham, Milperra, Petersham, Lilyfield and Bondi Beach as the best performers in their price brackets over the next six months, though all are still tipped to lose value.

Theo Chambers says upsizers stand to gain most, with the discount on a bigger purchase often outweighing what they give up selling.

DEPT OF LENDING

Family help now behind 1.8m Australian homes

Three in ten Australian homeowners – 1.8 million people – had family money behind their purchase, mostly for deposit help, according to Finder's 2026 Home Loan Report.

Finder's Richard Whitten says that backing can cut years off the path to ownership, but he's urging clear terms upfront: "Is it a gift, a loan, or an ownership arrangement?"

Read the full article →

HOW IT SOLD

A repaint and new kitchen set a street record

Three targeted upgrades – a fresh kitchen, unified flooring and a full repaint – lifted buyer interest by 70 per cent on a 20-year-old Caboolture home. Narelle Cordaro fielded seven offers in seven days, selling for $980,000 to time-poor owner occupiers who wanted to move straight in.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Create the case studies AI likes. Third-party, fact-checked, indexed. getailsa.com →

Nobody warned us that getting a real estate license in 2026 required a minor in TikTok choreography. 💃

TRUE OR FALSE:

In medieval England, a 'copyhold' property got its name because tenants had to copy out the lord's rules by hand before they could move in.

And the answer is …

False. This one's more about paperwork than homework. When land changed hands, the lord's court wrote it in the official record and gave the tenant a copy. Hence 'copyhold': you held the copy. Essentially a lease agreement with worse handwriting. via Kresen Kernow – Glossary of Manorial Terms and Definitions.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why the $1 billion agent switched brands anyway

Eleven years running as Australia's top-ranked agent, more than $1 billion in annual transactions, a business built over two decades – and Alexander Phillips still walked away from it to start again under a new banner. The move to launch Ray White Phillips & Co wasn't about chasing a bigger number. It was a bet on where buyer behaviour, data and technology are about to take prestige real estate, and Alexander explains exactly what convinced him to risk a winning formula.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The non-negotiable clause: Alexander made one condition central to the entire deal before he'd sign anything – and it wasn't about money.
• The buyer-behaviour bet: why Alexander thinks the way vendors choose an agent is about to change, and what he's doing now to stay top of their list.
• The twenty-year target: Alexander's real measure of success five years from now has nothing to do with sales volume.

Read the full article →

DEPT OF DATA

Housing stock loses $34bn, first fall since 2022

NSW and Victoria did the damage: their combined losses of over $137 billion dragged the national dwelling stock down 0.3% for the June quarter, the first fall since September 2022. The mean dwelling price slipped $8,200 to $1.1 million, even as 54,400 new homes joined the tally. Every other state still posted gains – annual value nationally is still up 8.5%.

DEPT OF DISPUTES

NSW Opposition to test stamp duty in court

Billions could be owed if this goes the Opposition's way: it's now committed to referring NSW's stamp duty indexation rules to the Supreme Court. REINSW says Revenue NSW has applied two different interpretations of the same provisions since they began, and wants the Chief Commissioner to seek clarity rather than keep collecting under doubt.

DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Dubai home prices fall for first time in five years

Dubai's five-year run has broken: average residential prices dipped 1.7 per cent year-on-year in August, the first annual fall since 2021. Around 180,000 new homes are due for delivery by 2028, double the historical build rate, which is what's really driving the shift.

Ronan Arthur from Cavendish Maxwell says the market is "entering a more mature cycle" rather than a downturn.

HOW IT SOLD

One buyer, one auction, $70k above ask

A late withdrawal left just one bidder before Saturday's auction in Brighton-Le-Sands. John Moustacas of McGrath ran the process anyway, negotiating the remaining buyer up from $870,000 to $940,000 – well above the suburb's $907,500 median.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Create the case studies AI likes. Third-party, fact-checked, indexed. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Rachel Buglisi – building success from the ground up in the Latrobe Valley

Traralgon's property market is tight, and Rachel Buglisi is holding her own against multi-agent agencies as a solo operator. Twenty-two years after starting on reception, and nearly four years after going independent with Area Specialist, she's now planning a physical office in the CBD.

Tayla Long appointed Harcourts Tasmania operations manager Harcourts business owners across Tasmania have a new port of call – Tayla Long has been appointed Business Operations Manager for the state, moving up after building relationships across the network during her time with Harcourts Launceston. In the role, she'll work directly with business owners and their teams, offering operational support, coaching and guidance to help offices grow.

Adrian William gives its brand a refresh Six years after launching in Sydney's Inner West, Adrian William has given its marketing a refresh, leaning further into the pink drawn from its heritage-listed Newtown office and the custom hand-lettering that's marked the brand since day one. General manager Leilani Shephard says the update reflects how far the agency has grown, as it extends its footprint from the Inner West into the Inner City.

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Meet my kids: Iced Coffee, Pre-Approval, and Clear To Close. ☕💵

TRUE OR FALSE:

In 1919, the entire town of Hibbing, Minnesota, was relocated two miles south to make way for iron ore mining – including its brick and stone buildings, which were pulled on steel rollers.

And the answer is …

False – but it's almost right. Hibbing really was relocated two miles south between 1919 and 1921 to make way for the Hull-Rust-Mahoning open pit mine, and nearly 200 structures made the journey. But only wood-frame buildings were moved; brick and stone structures were considered too heavy and too dangerous to transport. The town's new brick city hall, power plant, and other masonry buildings – many only a few years old – had to be abandoned and demolished. The mining company later financed lavish new brick buildings in the new town site, including a high school so opulent it helped trigger a state cap on per-capita spending. Imagine explaining that insurance claim: 'Yes, the hotel fell off its skids mid-move' – which actually happened to the three-storey Sellers Hotel in January 1921. via MNopedia – Minnesota Historical Society.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Growth doesn't wait for the market to turn

Death, divorce, downsizing. Tina Ashton says those three constants have outlasted every property cycle since she started in real estate in 1996, and they're why she's not interested in waiting for rates or listings to improve before making a move. Her argument: the agencies that grow through a flat market are the ones that stop waiting for it to turn – and the biggest gains are usually sitting right under everyone's nose.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• Growth without the market: the five levers Tina says work in any cycle – productivity, service offering, holding fees, acquisitions, cutting costs.
• Negotiate while everyone's nervous: why a flat market is the time to renegotiate leases, lock in contracts and consolidate sites – the other side wants certainty too.
• The four touch-point rule: the annual contact pattern Tina says separates agents with a real pipeline from those hoping the phone rings.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH PM/ONE AND KOLMEO

Property managers have plenty to say about the job, and Kolmeo asked 400 of them. What they said – and the industry roadmap built from it – gets its first airing at PM/ONE in Sydney this weekend, 13–14 September.

Kolmeo builds property management tech around how PM teams actually work, state legislation included. Kleo, its AI assistant for property managers, takes the admin so people can get back to the relationships. Bring your hardest PM question to the stand and put Kleo to the test – there's a K Beauty Box in the draw for anyone who does.

Tickets and the full program at PM1.com.au.

Learn more →

DEPT OF MACROECONOMIC POLICY

Economists and markets split on rate call

Ten of the 12 economists tracked by OurTop10 expect the RBA to hold on September 29, but futures markets are pricing a 54 per cent chance of a rise.

Mansour Soltani says the gap "does not happen often" – one side is wrong, and it's worth knowing before your spring vendors ask which way it's going.

DEPT OF DATA

Premium suburbs turn as investors exit affordable areas

Sydney's Eastern Suburbs has picked up 0.8 more buyers per open home since the Budget – the same areas that copped the biggest price falls are now leading the recovery. Nerida Conisbee links it to negative gearing and capital gains changes pushing investors out of affordable, investor-heavy markets like Adelaide South and Perth, while owner-occupiers return to the premium end.

DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Clients buying back home in Greece? The tax bill just changed

If you've got clients of Greek heritage buying a place back home, they're about to pay a lot more to do it. Greece is proposing to lift transfer tax for non-EU buyers from 3 to 15 per cent – on a €500,000 home, that's €75,000 instead of €15,000. Tom Panos says the move is pitched at housing affordability but lands squarely on Australia's Greek diaspora, and whether the old or new rate applies comes down to citizenship and residency status.

Tom's advice: get proper legal advice before rushing in.

HOW IT SOLD

One registered buyer, a 40-minute auction, $1.85m

Neil Sharpe and Sophie Boardman prepared their Patumahoe lifestyle listing with a full building report and repairs before launch, giving buyers confidence to go unconditional. With only one registered bidder, auctioneer David Johnstone worked a lengthy negotiation between contractor buyers and firm vendors, landing on NZ$1.85 million.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Create the case studies AI likes. Third-party, fact-checked, indexed. getailsa.com →

CELEBRITY HOMES

Skytower architect's rare Clayfield creation hits market

The man behind Brisbane's Skytower residential levels also designed a Clayfield home with its own wine cellar and a dumbwaiter running from the basement garage straight to the kitchen. Noel Robinson's four-bedroom creation is now for sale, with owners Jo and Andrew heading back to Noosa. Best offers close 22 September – the basement storage alone is worth the click.

Read the full article →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Scott McElroy takes out Belle Property network's top CEO award

Scott McElroy, who runs Belle Property's Carlton, North Melbourne and Ascot Vale offices, has won the CEO Award, the top prize at the 2026 National Awards for Belle Property, ACTON | Belle Property and Hockingstuart. More than 1,500 people from the 215-office network gathered for the night, which also saw Belle Property Northern Beaches take home 15 awards and Belle Property Cairns collect eight.

For Zoran Solano, property has always been about the long game Zoran Solano has built Hot Property Buyers Agency into a boutique Brisbane operation, running it alongside his wife Maddy Solano since she formally joined in 2012, with around 35 per cent of the properties they buy each year sourced off-market. He's now president of the Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia and is focused on lifting professional standards across the industry sector.

Robert Krnjeta launches Harcourts TWG in Melbourne's west Melbourne's west has a bigger banner to rally around – Harcourts Melton and Werribee have merged into Harcourts TWG (The Western Group), with Robert Krnjeta returning to Werribee to lead it alongside Petar Krnjeta, Rick O'Halloran, Reece Beckley, Martin Mintoff and Mark Mintoff. The group is aiming for seven offices across the western corridor, with shared marketing, systems and training designed to bring more Harcourts businesses into the fold as it grows.

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Flirting is temporary, but securing property portfolio growth is forever. 📈

TRUE OR FALSE:

After his famous scheme collapsed, the infamous Charles Ponzi went into real estate. He bought Florida swamp at $16 an acre, cut every acre into 23 lots, and sold them at $10 a lot as prime land.

And the answer is …

Yes, true – and it gets better. The Florida boom was hot enough in 1925 that people bought sight unseen. He advertised the blocks as "near Jacksonville". They were 65 miles inland and mostly underwater. He was indicted within months. So "swampland in Florida" isn't a figure of speech – it was an actual subdivision, sold by the man whose name we still use for the other scheme. via Wikipedia.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Your CRM might already be obsolete

An agent with zero coding skills can now describe a piece of software and have a working version running before their coffee goes cold. So what happens to the CRM, the tool agencies have paid for and trusted for twenty years, when the thing it sells – storage, drip campaigns, a listing launchpad – can be rebuilt by any customer with an AI tool? Avi Khan says the category has one asset left worth paying for, and it isn't the dashboard.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The propensity test: why the CRM worth keeping is the one that names eleven households in your farm area likely to list in six months, not the one that stores them alphabetically.
• The fax machine moment: the specific reason Avi believes the dashboard, every provider's proudest demo screen, is already a dying interface.
• The liability login: what happens to agencies still paying for a system that holds data but can't score it – and why that bill keeps arriving anyway.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH ELITE AGENT

Would a potential client find enough online to choose you? Elite Agent’s free Brand Audit asks 12 multiple-choice questions to reveal what you have in place, your biggest gap and three practical steps to strengthen your online presence.

Take the free quiz

DEPT OF LENDING

Affordability hits record low as SA overtakes NSW

A median-income household can now afford just 12% of homes sold nationally, below even the FY08 low. Mortgage repayments have climbed to 35.5% of income, the highest share since 1989, while South Australia has leapfrogged NSW as the least affordable state and Victoria has become the most affordable on record.

"Without a meaningful increase in housing supply, affordability will remain a significant challenge," says Angus Moore.

DEPT OF CONSTRUCTION

Queensland home building smashes 52-year record

Queensland just became the only state sitting above its all-time construction peak, with new home building hitting $20.3 billion – up 19.3% for the year. Apartments drove 62% of that growth, now making up almost 43% of the state's new builds.

Peter Drennan from Primara Research puts it down to timing: "Brisbane's Olympic infrastructure build and continued interstate migration into the south-east are both landing in the same window as this apartment surge."

Read the full article →

DEPT OF LEGISLATION

China moves to scrap risky presale housing model

For years Chinese buyers paid for apartments years before they were built, sometimes never getting the keys. Beijing has now told developers to prioritise completed-home sales, capped presale loans at five years, and stretched mortgage terms to 40. Analysts say the package goes further than expected – and developer shares jumped on the news, with Sunac up 10.7%.

HOW IT SOLD

Nine opens, two bidders, one $1.495m result

A cosmetic fixer with sunset views drew 34 inspections across nine opens in 22 days. Four bidders registered, two pushed through six final bids, and Shane Bleasdale's young buyers – a tradie and a teacher – secured the Salisbury Heights home well above the suburb's $1.0009m median.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Create the case studies AI likes. Third-party, fact-checked, indexed. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Shane Stone opens First National agency in Heathmont

Heathmont now has a homegrown agency to call its own. Shane Stone, who grew up in the area and spent three decades across finance, property management, sales and auctioneering – including five years teaching real estate at Swinburne University – has launched First National Stone & Associates, offering sales, property management and auction services across Heathmont and the wider Maroondah area.

Rob and Jacquie Horder open two new McGrath offices Richmond Valley now has a McGrath address of its own, with Rob Horder and Jacquie Horder opening offices in Casino and Kyogle. Rob steps in as principal and Jacquie as director, bringing a nine-strong team and 16 years selling property across the region, including recent sales at Lynchs Creek and Kilgra topping $1.3 million. The new territory stretches from Nimbin to Woodenbong and down to Evans Head, with a property management arm set to grow alongside it.

Aurora Property adds award-winning duo to Lower North Shore team Luddenham's top agent at the 2025 REA Awards for Excellence, Konstantin Melnikov steps into the Associate Director role at Aurora Property, bringing two decades of Sydney residential, commercial and off-the-plan sales experience. He's joined by Ferenc Goemoeri, a Sales Agent who's worked alongside him since 2021, as the pair form Team Melnikov out of Aurora's Neutral Bay office, covering the Lower North Shore from 7 September 2026.

Knight Frank returns to Tasmania in dual-branded McGrath offices Tasmania's two biggest real estate names are teaming up again, and Josh Hart is the one holding the keys. He'll head new dual-branded McGrath Knight Frank offices in Hobart and Launceston, bringing 18 years in the local market, more than four as principal of McGrath Launceston, and over $1 billion in career sales to the expanded patch.

Success doesn't rest on weekends!
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Nothing cures a heavy sleeper quite like the sound of a potential client entering the chat. 📲

TRUE OR FALSE:

Victor Lustig, the man who managed to successfully close a deal selling the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal in 1925 was eventually jailed when the buyer reported him.

And the answer is …

False. After Lustig's buyer paid up, realised he'd been had, and was so embarrassed he didn't tell anyone. Lustig got away completely clean. It just goes to show: some buyers will do absolutely anything rather than admit they overpaid. via Smithsonian Magazine.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

NEW ON ELITE AGENT TV

Why the cheapest agent isn't the one who wins

Many agents are still pitching photos, a floor plan and a price. Vendors say they will pay for more, if someone explains what more gets them. And did you know first reader of a listing is now, more often than not, a machine that only recommends what it can read...

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The apples-and-oranges conversation: what to say the moment a vendor mentions the other agent is cheaper.
• The AI-ready checklist: the five things a listing needs before a chatbot will ever put it on a buyer's shortlist.
• The Tuesday-before-Thursday move: how one Sydney agent uses an unfinished virtual tour to get his hottest buyers ringing him first.

Watch/read the full episode →

DEPT OF COMMERCIAL

Regional commercial deals hit $6.2 billion in 2025

Regional commercial property is having its third-best year on record, with $6.2 billion in transactions and retail driving over 40% of it, per Knight Frank's Australian Regional View 2026. Gold Coast office vacancy has fallen from 18.6% to just 3.2% since 2021.

Alistair Read says investors now see scale and diversity in regional centres, not just yield – with Geelong forecast for 22% population growth.

DEPT OF DATA

Sydney's 5% fall traced to a decade-old number

Sydney fell hardest this year – 5% – despite Brisbane and Perth growing faster during the boom. Ray White's Atom Go Tian says the reason is leverage: Sydney's price-to-income ratio sits at 12.9, well above Melbourne's 8.8, so any lending shock hits harder. Useful context if vendors are benchmarking against other capitals.

DEPT OF INVESTORS

Reventon eyes Tasmania as rents surge 12%

Only 162 rental properties available across the whole of Hobart – that's what a 0.6% vacancy rate looks like in practice. Property Investment Group Reventon says after strong runs in Perth, Adelaide and South East Queensland, Tasmania's now the standout, with Hobart's $735,000 median still sitting below the national figure. Chris Christofi's read: the fundamentals are heading south.

HOW IT SOLD

Dated rental transformed into seven-offer sale

A decade of tenancy had left this Cranbourne East home dark and worn, so Karen Peele focused on paint, LED lighting, epoxy flooring and staging before launch. Buyers responded within four days, delivering seven offers and a $750,000 result, above the suburb's median.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Create the case studies AI likes. Third-party, fact-checked, indexed. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harcourts Tasmania invites charities to claim $100,000 already raised

Tasmanian charities have a fresh reason to check their inbox – Harcourts Foundation Tasmania Ambassador Belinda Dowde is fronting a 60-day funding round worth more than $100,000, raised through franchise offices' charity auctions, events and property-related fundraising. Organisations with DGR and TCC status can apply before the round closes on 3 November 2026, with grants set to be handed out through local presentations in time to support Christmas period programmes.

Ray White Queensland holds firm on targets after tough year Thirty years in, and Leesa Paull used the biggest night on the Ray White Queensland calendar to point the spotlight elsewhere. The Ray White Collective Group Operations Manager won the Max White Award, the network's top individual honour now in its 47th year, at the 2025-26 awards in Brisbane – dedicating it to the administrators, EAs and operations managers who keep offices running.

Rohin Arora – from early setbacks to $1 million at 30 Six months of cold calls at 18, a four-year break, then a return that stuck – Rohin Arora's path to the top wasn't a straight line. Now running Area Specialist's eastern Melbourne patch across Ferntree Gully, Boronia, The Basin and Bayswater, he's written more than $1 million in commission in a single financial year, built a top-100 ranking, and turned the business into a family operation with his sister on the team.

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Come for the dream homes, stay for the completely unmerited scoldings. 🫠

TRUE OR FALSE:

Sydney's first proper hospital was built without the government paying a cent. The contractors were actually handed a monopoly on importing rum instead.

And the answer is …

True. The Crown had refused to fund a hospital, so in 1810 Governor Macquarie let a syndicate of merchants build it in exchange for the exclusive right to import 45,000 gallons of rum. The workmanship was shocking – roof and beams needed fixing almost straight away – and despite that these buildings are still standing. One wing is now NSW Parliament House. A structurally compromised, leaky building funded entirely by a liquor cartel? Makes perfect sense that it became NSW Parliament House 😉 via Museums of History NSW.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

A rival's dirty trick backfired into a record year

Competitors told her clients she was finished. Mum-to-be Symone Gatt heard about it from a conveyancer and turned the rumour into fuel for her biggest year yet. Two weeks off on maternity leave, one new hire, and a 27 per cent jump in sales later, she's sitting in the top ten of her network.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The two-week return: why Symone timed her comeback around Easter and hasn't missed a Saturday open since.
• The assistant trade-off: the exact tasks she handed over so she could stay the only face clients see at listings and opens.
• The boardroom baby rule: how her office turned a newborn into a fixture of morning sales meetings, and what that says about the culture she works in.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH ID4ME

When the pie gets smaller, you need a bigger slice

Tom Panos told a room of agents something most webinars skip straight past: the phone call to a vendor who appraised at 1.1 and is now looking at 950 isn't the hard part because of the number.

It's hard because agents start carrying it like they caused it.

His fix is simple and stuck with everyone who heard it.

"You're not the bad news when you're talking to your vendor. You're the messenger of the bad news, but you're not the bad news itself."

From there, he walks through the arithmetic rarely run – why standing still in a shrinking market actually means going backwards, and why 30 sales now might need double the listings it used to. The full recording, his presentation, and the vendor and buyer scripts he shared are available to watch.

Learn more →

DEPT OF LEGAL STUFF

Vic's new reserve price rule has a loophole question

From October, Victorian agents must publish a vendor's reserve seven days out – but the law doesn't say what happens if that reserve changes.

Toby Balazs from the REIV flags a real scenario: reject a pre-auction offer above the reserve, and you may have just set a new one, triggering another seven-day wait.

REIV is chasing guidelines from Consumer Affairs Victoria now.

DEPT OF AUCTIONS

Spring stock rises with clearance rates still under 50%

Cotality's combined capitals clearance rate came in at 49.5% last week, a touch up on the week before but well short of the 69.3% this time last year. Volumes are the other half of the story: listings are building week on week and Cotality expects that to continue through September. Brisbane was the softest of the capitals, and Adelaide is the only city listing more homes than a year ago.

DEPT OF DATA

Kellyville tops Sydney's moving data as CBD empties out

One removalist's job data is showing where Sydney's growth is really heading. A1 Removalists Sydney tracked 2,930 moves and found Kellyville and Box Hill leading net inbound activity, while Sydney CBD and Leichhardt each posted the city's steepest net outflows. Of 556 interstate jobs, 301 left NSW, mostly for Queensland and Victoria.

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

Connectnow helps property managers simplify the move-in process by taking care of utility connections, including electricity, gas and internet, reducing administration, follow-ups and the risk of missed connections.

With more than 25 years’ experience, connectnow integrates utility connections into existing leasing workflows, helping teams deliver a more consistent experience while giving agencies a trackable revenue stream through referral activity. Dedicated account management and partner support are also provided.

At PM/ONE, attendees can meet the connectnow team, see how utility connections can be embedded into their existing processes, and learn how to track time savings and referral performance across their portfolio.

See connectnow at PM/ONE
PM/ONE brings Australia’s property management community together in Sydney on 13–14 September 2026. Explore the event and get your tickets at PM1.com.au.

HOW IT SOLD

Two buyers, one softer market, $3.35m result

Mark Josem sold 154 Victoria Road, Hawthorn East for $3.351 million in just 12 days – above the home's $3.2 million offer from 2022, despite a softer market. His social-first video campaign generated six times the views of portals alone, surfacing a second genuine buyer who pushed the price.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

How's your findability on AI? The agents who turn up have more content out there. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harcourts Batemans Bay owners open second office in Narooma

Southern Eurobodalla now has its own Harcourts base. Omania Terry and Dene Lewthwaite, who've built Harcourts Batemans Bay across residential sales, property management and holiday rentals since Dene took on the franchise in 2019, have opened Harcourts Narooma. Sales team member Jenna Turnbull and property manager Melissa Dell, already working in the area, helped lay the groundwork for the new office.

Valentina Parra named Ray White Victoria and Tasmania COO From reception at 18 to the C-suite: Valentina Parra has been named Chief Operating Officer of Ray White Victoria and Tasmania, a newly created role for the network. Her run through the business spans finance, marketing, events and IT, sales at Alan White Premier level, and auctioneering, before this appointment to oversee the corporate team's day-to-day running and free CEO Domenic Belfiore to focus on growth.

Harcourts Property Specialists opens two new WA offices Sixteen months into its Harcourts membership, Harcourts Property Specialists is opening in Subiaco and Hopetoun, lifting its Western Australian footprint to four offices and bringing on seven established salespeople. It's the business's third rent roll acquisition since joining the network in April 2025, building on more than 30 years managing property across Perth. Director and licensee Victor Paz said Subiaco strengthens an already established patch, while Hopetoun extends the business into regional WA, backed by its Perth team.

Beau Miller takes over as principal of Whitsundays agency Taylors Beau Miller's path runs from property management at 17 through agency ownership, business development and a state operations role at Elders Real Estate, where she oversaw roughly 12,500 properties across Queensland and the Northern Territory. She now steps in as principal of Taylors Property Specialists in the Whitsundays, taking over from founder Rob Taylor in a staged handover that keeps the brand and the 20-strong team in place.

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Added "professional cat climber" to my resume today 🐈‍⬛📈

TRUE OR FALSE:

In 1978 Richard Branson was shown a Caribbean island listed at US$6M, offered US$100K for it, and was left to find his own way home. He ended up owning it anyway.

And the answer is …

True. Necker Island sat unsold for another year, the owner's patience ran out, and Branson got all 74 acres for US$180,000. He'd only gone to the viewing to impress a girl – he married her on that island a decade later. via CNBC.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Your social followers already belong in your CRM

Every agent and office in your network is sitting on an audience most head offices never think to count. Richard Lindley argues that combined social reach – across hundreds of offices and thousands of agents – is a pipeline in disguise, not just a marketing channel. The catch is most networks are using AI to mine the database they already have, while ignoring the much larger pool of people who follow but haven't enquired yet. The full piece maps out how to close that gap without losing the personal touch that got those followers there.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The AML content play: how one piece of centrally created content can be scheduled across hundreds of office and agent accounts without ever looking like the same corporate post twice.
• The talk-to-AI method: why handing AI your voice is a mistake, but handing it your knowledge is where the real time-saving happens.
• The quiet-market rule: the specific reason staying visible when listings dry up matters more than any ad spend ever could.

Read the full article →

DEPT OF DATA

Regional growth shifts to the inland

Have your buyers been priced out of the capital? Regional Australia is building itself a bigger runway, with more towns now sitting well under city medians. It's the kind of shift that changes what "affordable" means for your clients.

DEPT OF LENDING

Building approvals slip 3.6% despite strong yearly gains

New home approvals fell 3.6% in July, but Tom Devitt from HIA says don't panic – they're still 8.3% higher than this time last year. The bigger worry is what's coming: investor lending is down almost 20% and new home sales have fallen for three straight months, a lag effect Tom says hasn't hit approvals data yet.

DEPT OF MARKETING

Asking prices flat, but sales tell a different story

Realestate.co.nz says national asking prices have barely moved in three years, down just 3.2% to $849,362. Wellington's William Yip disagrees – he says actual sales have dropped nearly 20% nationally, and over 25% in Wellington, some categories down 40%. Worth knowing which number your vendors are quoting back at you.

HOW IT SOLD

$2.15m record sale with zero opens, zero days

Dominique Vasers had already spent months showing a Newcastle family properties before the vendors of 78 Patsys Flat Road even approached her. She matched them instantly, selling the five-bedroom Smiths Lake home off-market for a suburb record – no open homes, no days on market.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

How's your findability on AI? The agents who turn up have more content out there. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Todd Alexander appointed CMO of Century 21, BHG

A new international remit lands with Todd Alexander, appointed Chief Marketing Officer of Century 21 and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. He spent five years on Ray White Group's Senior Leadership Group leading a 20-person marketing team, after three years as Business Marketing & Performance Manager at Ray White Double Bay, and close to eight years across six marketing roles with InterContinental Hotels Group. He'll now set unified marketing strategy across Australasia.

FOUNDIT strengthens Sydney Eastern Suburbs presence with appointment of George Goldsworthy as partner Eight years exclusively on the buyer's side of the table, across Elizabeth Bay, Double Bay, Vaucluse and Sydney's eastern beaches – George Goldsworthy has built a practice on referrals rather than advertising. She now joins FOUNDIT as partner, taking her local agent relationships and off-market access into the group's national research and technology platform, managing acquisitions for owner-occupiers, investors and developers.

Group named number one in Ray White rural network Twelve months after setting the goal, Ray White Rural Pittsworth | Warwick | Dalby | Chinchilla | Stanthorpe has been named the top business in the Ray White Rural network, according to the network. Principal James Croft, general manager Sally Croft, director James Arthur and Stanthorpe operations manager Alison Jones grew the group from three offices to five, adding Chinchilla and Stanthorpe and lifting the team to 35.

Barry Plant reports growth amid softer Victorian market Ninety individual best-month-on-record results, up from just 24 the year before – that's one of the many standout numbers from Barry Plant's FY2025–26 results, landing in a Melbourne market where most networks would settle for steady. Sales rose 12.25 per cent to 10,196 transactions and appraisals climbed to 28,427, growth CEO Lisa Pennell and head of commercial and finance Akshay Sharma say is spread across the group's more than 60 Victorian offices.

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Policy update: Westpac & St. George are shaking things up 🏦⚡️

TRUE OR FALSE:

At the peak of Japan's bubble in 1989, Sony bought a controlling stake in New York's Rockefeller Center – and six years later handed the keys back to its lender.

And the answer is …

False. Sony was actually busy buying Hollywood that year. The buyer was Mitsubishi Estate, which paid US$846 million for control of the Rockefeller Group and then kept buying. Rents never rose the way the spreadsheet promised, the debt bit, and by 1995 the whole thing was in bankruptcy court. The most famous address in America, undone by an optimistic rent assumption. via The Washington Post.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why your listing data isn't landing anymore

Andy Reid has a theory about why your best scripts have gone quiet: you're handing owners information and calling it a reason. Stats on falling offers or rising stock levels aren't wrong, they're just being delivered as verdicts instead of clues. The fix isn't more data, it's a different kind of conversation entirely.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The what-if conversation: why walking owners through consequences beats reciting comparable sales, and the exact line that reframes "safe vs not safe" into risk vs risk.
• The gossipy neighbour play: a real prospecting story where four "not selling" appointments still handed an agent something more valuable than a listing.
• The betting woman question: one NLP-based tweak to a common referral script that gets reluctant contacts naming their neighbour instead of yours.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH HARCOURTS

Harcourts targets Sydney's Eastern Suburbs for growth

If you're running a patch like Maroubra, Randwick or Coogee, your local name is the whole business – which is exactly what Harcourts is betting on with its eastern suburbs push. Tina Ashton, the network's Chief Growth Officer, says the pitch to established operators isn't a rebrand, it's backup: appraisal tools, the REACH data platform, marketing and compliance support sitting behind the reputation you've already built.

The numbers are worth a look too – REACH-marketed properties have averaged $907,377 versus $896,301 without it, with a noticeably higher sale rate.

Curious what that support actually looks like on the ground? Take a look at the full story.

Learn more →

DEPT OF WEALTHY CLIENTS

Tropical resorts top Ray White's new luxury map

Byron Bay and Portsea just got demoted. Nerida Conisbee has split regional prestige property into seven precincts, and tropical resort markets like Port Douglas, Noosa and Hamilton Island have pulled clear of every other category over the past decade. Coastal commuter spots such as Mount Martha and Torquay have also crept ahead of the old-guard coastal favourites.

DEPT OF AI

Buyers ask AI first, still want you at the end

More than a third of Gen Z and Millennial buyers now turn to AI before anyone else when researching finances and property, Great Southern Bank's new report shows. But when it's time to sign off, 56% still want a human adviser and only 10% trust AI alone. The gap between browsing and deciding is where you come in.

DEPT OF LENDING

Zillow's rent reporting hints at a PM growth play

In July alone, Zillow reported 78,000 renters' on-time payments to credit bureaus – up 26% on last year. Nearly a third of US mortgage rejections came down to thin credit files, exactly the gap rent reporting closes. For principals building out property management, it's a reminder that today's tenant is tomorrow's buyer, if you nurture them early.

HOW IT SOLD

Honesty about repairs brought 40 groups in one weekend

A three-bedroom Urrbrae house needing TLC sold for $1,266,000 in six days after Brenton Milewski marketed the repair work upfront rather than hiding it. Five offers followed, with the top two buyers going unconditional to compete for the 803sqm block.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

How's your findability on AI? The agents who turn up have more content out there. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

REMAX Australia's RMX26 conference draws close to 200 members

Sunshine Coast played host this year, with REMAX Australia's flagship conference pulling together close to 200 members for two days of market data, leadership panels and keynotes from Olympic cyclist Anna Meares OAM and Ultraman champion Richard Thompson. Managing Director Joel Davoren opened proceedings urging the room to stretch beyond their comfort zones, ahead of sessions from Mat Steinwede, D'Leanne Lewis and Cotality's Tim Lawless.

Jellis Craig Port Phillip adds prestige experience with Hamish Palmer-Hill appointment Melbourne's inner-south prestige market gets a new face at Jellis Craig Port Phillip, with Hamish Palmer-Hill joining as Sales Consultant. He brings more than eight years in real estate sales, most recently specialising in the inner-south premium segment, and a self-described strong connection to the Port Phillip area he now calls home turf. Director Simon Gowling says the appointment adds depth to a team already leaning into the area's high-end market.

Jack Gilchrist – building a real estate empire in South Gippsland Under the Area Specialist model since July 2022, Jack Gilchrist leads a three-person team in Korumburra that has never made a prospecting call, relying instead on referrals and reputation – a run he says has made him the area's top agent for six straight years. He keeps 98 per cent of his commission and leaves the admin, trust accounting and auditing to Area Specialist's back-office support.

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Work-life balance in a nutshell 🤡✨

TRUE OR FALSE:

McDonald's makes its real money as a landlord, not as a burger chain. Its finance chief told Ray Kroc in the 1950s that the hamburgers were only there so the tenants could pay the rent.

And the answer is …

True. In 1956, Harry Sonneborn transformed McDonald's from a fast-food joint into a commercial property empire. By establishing Franchise Realty, he locked down prime sites and sub-leased them to franchisees at a massive markup. As Sonneborn famously put it: "We are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business." Today, those Golden Arches represent one of the highest-yielding rent rolls on the planet. via The Motley Fool.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why clickbait and unskilled agents are spooking Australia’s buyers

A Brisbane sales specialist has had enough of agents blaming the market for their own shortcomings. Alistair Macmillan says the doom talk flooding vendor meetings and news feeds isn't a sign of collapse, it's a sign the boom-time order-takers never learned to negotiate. He's crunched the numbers on Queensland's price history to make his case, and it's more pointed than you'd expect.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The shooting-fish-in-a-barrel problem: why ten years of easy wins left a chunk of the profession without the skills a flattening market now demands.
• The clearance rate switcheroo: the private treaty comparison Alistair says the media conveniently never runs alongside auction stats.
• The tax-free wave test: the twenty-year return calculation he uses to talk nervous vendors off the ledge.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH PM/ONE AND BMT

BMT Tax Depreciation helps property managers add value for their landlord clients by educating them about depreciation deductions available on their investment properties.

With almost 30 years in tax depreciation and close to one million schedules completed, BMT says residential clients found an average of more than $12,000 in depreciation deductions in the first financial year last year. Its services for property managers include free depreciation estimates, helping make it easier to identify potential benefits for landlords.

At PM/ONE, attendees can meet the BMT team, learn how tax depreciation schedules can benefit their landlords and enter a prize draw for the chance to win a gourmet food hamper.

See BMT Tax Depreciation at PM/ONE
PM/ONE brings Australia’s property management community together in Sydney on 13–14 September 2026. Explore the event and get your tickets at PM1.com.au.

Learn more →

DEPT OF LENDING

National prices fall for fifth straight month

Adelaide just posted the biggest monthly fall of any capital, down 0.9%, even after leading growth for months. The national median now sits at $886,000, and Eleanor Creagh says rate and tax uncertainty will keep prices soft for a while yet. Worth noting: units are outperforming houses, up 3% annually against 1.5%.

DEPT OF LENDING

HIA tips 186,000-home shortfall despite building growth

Tim Reardon's forecast: home construction keeps climbing through 2027 and 2028, but new taxes on established housing and a ban on SMSFs borrowing to invest in property mean Australia still lands 186,000 homes short of its national target. He expects that shortage – not a building rebound – to push prices back into growth from early 2027.

DEPT OF INSURANCE

Trees add $237k to Melbourne house prices

REIV's new canopy study puts a number on something you've probably felt at open homes for years: suburbs with 50% more tree cover than the Melbourne average carry a $237,000 price premium. The starkest example is Frankston South, 69% leafier than neighbouring Frankston North, and $493,000 more expensive. Handy context next time a vendor asks why the street two blocks over sells for more.

HOW IT SOLD

35 enquiries, one auction, a building record

A three-bedroom unit on level 13 of Burleigh Heads' Boardwalk building went to auction after Michael Clark held firm on the strategy despite three pre-auction offers. The 21-day campaign drew 35 enquiries and three registered bidders, ending in a record result for the building.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

How's your findability on AI? The agents who turn up have more content out there. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

REA Group's marketing chief swaps Australia for the top job at Trade Me

Trade Me has named Kul Singh as its next chief executive, succeeding Anders Skoe after his seven years in the role. Singh spent a decade at REA Group, most recently as Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer leading customer, product and marketing teams, and returns to New Zealand after 25 years abroad. At REA, Katrina Konstas takes on Singh's former role from 1 September.

OBrien Real Estate unveils refreshed brand identity Fifteen years after founding the network in 2010, Dean O'Brien is putting a new face on the business he built around people, relationships and performance. From 1 September, OBrien Real Estate's Victorian offices roll out a new logo, colour palette and marketing platform, alongside a fresh "Can You Picture It?" campaign. Read the full article →

Nima Aliasgary joins LJ Hooker as sales director Sydney's Northern Beaches gets a new sales director as the Narrabeen and Forestville offices rebrand to LJ Hooker. Nima Aliasgary takes on the role alongside principals Kathleen Fairweather and Michael Ferguson, with a brief to grow the business across the Northern Beaches and Forest areas.

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Professional locked-in mode: ACTIVATED 🚨✨

TRUE OR FALSE:

The winning design for Australia's capital city was drawn in Chicago by someone who had never set foot in Australia – and did not see the site until more than a year after he won.

And the answer is …

True. The competition to design Australia's capital drew 137 entries from around the world, and the winner – announced in May 1912 – was Walter Burley Griffin of Chicago, who had never set foot in the country. He and Marion Mahony Griffin worked entirely from surveyor Charles Scrivener's contour plans, designing around Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie sight unseen – and it was Marion's drawings that arguably won it. Walter didn't walk the site until mid-1913, over a year after winning. Truly WFH before it was even a thing. via National Archives of Australia.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

What to tell buyers betting on a crash

A buyer who walked away from a $16.5 million Point Piper apartment purchase was ordered to pay over $2.4 million in damages after the property resold for less. That ruling, plus a High Court decision on an $11.25 million pub sale, are now some of the sharpest tools agents have against purchasers convinced a crash is coming. Finance brokers and agency leaders say the data tells a very different story.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The exchange line: the exact moment a signed contract stops being a negotiation and becomes a legal obligation, and why "the market's dropping" won't get a buyer out of it.
• The Laundy Hotels precedent: what the High Court actually ruled when a $1 million value drop wasn't grounds to walk away from a pub sale.
• The hold-tenure number: the Melbourne data point – now sitting well above a decade – that quietly undercuts every "wait for the bottom" theory.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH APLYID

Top 5 things to look out for when choosing your AML compliance software

With Tranche 2 bringing agencies under the AML/CTF Act, "compliant today" needs to mean "compliant in twelve months" too – and that's the question they say is worth asking your AML software vendor before you sign anything.

APLYiD reckons it covers the lot: regulation tracking, fast biometric ID checks, ISO 27001-certified data security, one-click audit exports, and a full AML programme builder with staff training thrown in.

Book a demo at APLYiD.com and get them to walk you through their workflow, start to finish.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DATA

Regional markets still ride their capital's coattails

Perth's satellite markets have surged 133% since 2016, against 103% for Perth itself – proof that even the biggest regional outperformers stay tied to their capital's fortunes. Ray White's Nerida Conisbee says that's bad news for the Central Coast, Wollongong, Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula as Sydney and Melbourne cool faster than Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

DEPT OF LENDING

NAB tips two more rate hikes by November

NAB now expects the RBA to lift rates in September and again in November, taking the cash rate to 4.85% – its highest since the GFC. CBA and ANZ agree, leaving Westpac the only major still tipping a cut.

Canstar's Sally Tindall says sticky core inflation has "backed the RBA into a corner", with a $600,000 mortgage facing an extra $183 a month if both hikes land.

DEPT OF DISPUTES

Property Council pushes back on CGT rule changes

Treasury's own numbers say these reforms could cost 35,000 new homes over the next decade – and the Property Council reckons the fine print makes it worse. Its Treasury submission flags just 17 days given to review the draft legislation covering build-to-rent, retirement villages and student accommodation.

"Confusion in tax law is projected onto the real world," Mike Zorbas said.

HOW IT SOLD

A record $2.45m sale across time zones

Seven weeks of negotiation bridged a Gold Coast seller and an overseas buyer working across time zones. Gemma White secured $2.45 million for a Hope Island waterfront home – a Cova Estate record – while keeping the tenant housed and the seller thrilled.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

How's your findability on AI? The agents who turn up have more content out there. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Ferntree Gully wins Ray White Vic/Tas top office for tenth year

Ray White Ferntree Gully has claimed the network's Top Office award for settled commission for the tenth consecutive year, with principal Patrick McConnachie leading the team through what Ray White Victoria and Tasmania is calling its best season yet, 18,490 sales settled across the two states in 2025-26. Helen Yan of Ray White Balwyn also marked nine years running as the network's No. 1 Principal.

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ChatGPT can finally rest after listening to me rant about this deal for 3 weeks straight 🤖😮‍💨

TRUE OR FALSE:

In some parts of England, there are still land auctions with no closing time and no auctioneer’s hammer. The bidding just keeps going until a burning candle goes out—and whoever bid last gets the lease.

And the answer is …

It's true... Forget the dramatic gavel drop or the digital countdown timer. "Candle auctions" were the 17th century's answer to eBay, and a few towns never gave them up. At Tatworth in Somerset, a meadow lease is still auctioned off every year based on how long a one-inch candle burns. Over in Berkshire, they stick a horseshoe nail into the wax—when it softens and the nail hits the table, the auction is over, and the last bid wins. No hammer, no auctioneer working the crowd—just a flame and pure suspense. Imagine trying that at your next Saturday on-site auction and seeing which buyer blinks first... via Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore / Wikipedia.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

How qualified are our coaches?

Have you ever been to a really great dinner party where the conversation just takes off and time flies?

That's Track 02 of The Edit. Fiona Blayney sat down with Samantha McLean and Chris Hanley OAM to chew over one question, and nobody looked at the clock.

The Question: Who is teaching your people?

That gap – between managing people and developing them – has never mattered more. Information is everywhere and it's free. Technique isn't. And your people are learning from someone whether you've chosen them or not: the person at the next desk, the loudest voice on their feed, or somebody who has actually done the job in a market like this one. Whoever it is, that's who your business ends up sounding like in front of a client.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The four questions Fiona asks about anyone who's just been moved into a new role – starting with the one most agencies have never actually answered.
• Where coaching stops and entertainment starts – "not everybody gets a ribbon" – and why technique is the thing that transfers, not another script.
• Sam's two-email rule for the moment a thread stops being correspondence and starts being a conflict.

Pull up a chair and be part of the conversation. Subscribe to The Edit on YouTube, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen/Watch the full episode ->

TOGETHER WITH PM/ONE AND STEADYRENT

SteadyRent helps property managers give landlords greater certainty over their rental income, providing funds when tenants pay late or fall into arrears so owners aren’t left waiting for their rent.

Its rental income certainty solution advances rent when a tenant hasn’t paid, while the property manager continues their normal arrears recovery process, with advances available for up to 120 days. SteadyRent will also showcase RentFlow, which gives property investors access to up to 24 months of future rental income.

At PM/ONE, attendees can bring their biggest landlord cash-flow challenge to the SteadyRent team and explore potential solutions in a five-minute conversation and go into the draw to win a prize.

See SteadyRent at PM/ONE
PM/ONE brings Australia’s property management community together in Sydney on 13–14 September 2026. Explore the event and get your tickets at PM1.com.au.

Learn more →

DEPT OF PRODUCTIVITY

Procrastination is costing agents two months a year

Pancho Mehrotra's coaching data shows call reluctance and task avoidance quietly eat close to two months of productive selling time annually. The real driver isn't laziness – it's fear of failure and the shame that comes with it. Pancho breaks down the habits, thoughts, and environments behind the stalling, plus the small-step fix he uses with clients.

DEPT OF DATA

Rental vacancies hit four-year high at 1.5%

More rentals to choose from – vacancy rates lifted to 1.5% in July, the highest since February 2022. Anne Flaherty puts the recovery down to an investor lending surge, but expects it to reverse after May's Budget cut tax concessions. Separate AHURI research found kids in private rentals move house six times by age 14, more than double the rate for those in owned homes.

DEPT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING

UK commits $76 billion to social housing build

Nearly $20 billion is already flowing to councils to build more than 70,000 homes, with 60 per cent set aside as heavily subsidised social rent. It's the biggest state-led housebuilding push in decades, with councils back at the centre of delivery after years of relying on the market. Worth watching if clients ask how other countries are tackling supply.

HOW IT SOLD

Multi-platform ads land top-of-range price in Hampton Park

A quiet court renovation in Hampton Park attracted a young family upgrading from a two-bedroom unit, who paid $890,000 – the top of Javed Samadi's $849,000–$890,000 range – after 35 days on market. Paid campaigns across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook drove the inspection traffic that found them.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Is your name invisible to AI? Start getting published. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

TRG expands Eastern Suburbs footprint with acquisition of Express Realty

Three decades of property management under Robert Kogan's Express Realty now sits inside Gavin Rubinstein's The Rubinstein Group (TRG), after the Eastern Suburbs firm completed the acquisition last month. The deal lifts TRG's portfolio past 1,000 managed properties, grows its property management team from three to 10 with seven new starters, and keeps Robert on through the transition at TRG's Rose Bay headquarters.

McGrath extends into Campsie as growth corridor heats up Eleven years after opening McGrath Bankstown, George Kapos is extending into Campsie, with the new office built on the acquisition of Montana Realty. Its principal, Heny Dao, joins the McGrath team and will keep working across the area. The combined operation, branded McGrath Inner Southwest, will cover Chipping Norton, Berala, Campsie, Belmore and Punchbowl, with a rent roll of 2,000 properties across both offices.

Rita Kennedy returns to Ray White Maroochydore full-time Maroochydore has one of its own back on the desk. Rita Kennedy built her name there as part of one of the office's top-performing teams before family life took her elsewhere; with her children now older and her family settled in the same Sunshine Coast market she sells in, she's rejoined full-time. Director Dan Sowden says her return brings calm, experience and community knowledge back to the Coastal Living Network.

Jay Giblett says tougher markets reward trusted agents Endeavour Hills has had one name attached to it for years, and Jay Giblett isn't about to change that. He built what he describes as a dominant market share there over sixteen years, including what he says were ten consecutive Agent of the Year wins for the area, before moving to Area Specialist around three years ago with business partner Shenay Miller. Now, with tighter conditions sending vendors back to agents they trust, Jay is focused on consolidating that position rather than chasing growth.

Grace Anderson and David Sylvester open Ray White Katikati Katikati has a new agency in town, fronted by two familiar faces. Grace Anderson brings a decade of local campaigns that Ray White describes as making her the town's leading salesperson, while David Sylvester adds more than 25 years of leadership focused on coaching and building sales teams. Together they're setting up shop, with plans to grow the team and property management portfolio over the next 12 months.

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Nugget ice maker was expensive and Shannon can run fast 🧊🏃‍♀️

TRUE OR FALSE:

In English common law, 'estovers' is a legal right allowing tenants to take wood from leased land for fuel, fencing, or repairs – and the word comes from the Old French for 'to be necessary'.

And the answer is …

We had to triple check this and it's crazy but true. Deriving from the Old French for 'to be necessary', estovers gave medieval tenants the right to harvest timber from their landlord's property for basic survival. This covered housebote (repairs), hedgebote (fencing), and firebote (fuel). So if a tenant ever takes an axe to the boundary fence to keep the living room warm ... the UK National Archives still officially lists it as a surviving property right. (However, if a modern residential tenant in a Sydney duplex or a London flat tries to invoke "housebote" to chop down their landlord's prize oak tree because they don't want to pay for heating, it's more likely the courts won't be amused.) via Real Estate Definition.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

A diagnosis told him to quit. He built McGrath's top office instead

A specialist once told Alex Jordan he'd lose the ability to drive a car or tie his shoelaces within a decade. He was broke, behind on his mortgage, and had spent ten years failing to make real estate work. What followed wasn't a comeback story built on hustle – it was a complete rewrite of how he thinks about time, effort, and outcomes.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The detachment principle: why Alex built his entire business on not expecting a result from his effort, and how that paradox produced 25 times growth.
• The recovery time rule: the surprisingly spiritual way Alex processes a lost listing, and why he thinks it governs everything that happens next.
• The ownership myth: Alex's blunt take on why owning five offices can pay less than staying a top-selling agent – and the title you'll never find on his business card.

Read the full article →

DEPT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Housing Australia fast-tracks 1,000 affordable homes

Applications open September 14 for a new Housing Australia Future Fund stream targeting 1,000 low-density homes, but the catch is speed – planning approvals must be locked in by February 2027 and construction underway by May.

Packages are fixed at 200 dwellings each, split 50/50 between social and affordable housing. The aim is to get trades on-site faster once approvals land.

DEPT OF BAD DEBTS

Bathla Group collapses owing $3 billion

The western Sydney builder has gone into voluntary administration with roughly 15,000 properties mid-construction across growth corridors like Schofields and Marsden Park. Founder Bhart Bhushan blamed a "perfect storm" of softening sales and rising costs.

Teneo's Stephen Longley says the priority is keeping settlements and construction moving – worth knowing if you've got buyers in any Bathla project asking questions.

DEPT OF POLICY

Sydney to remove street lockboxes from 2027

If the keys to your CBD listing happen to live on a bike rack or on a tree, the City of Sydney wants them gone. From 1 April 2027, council will cut down and impound lockboxes attached to public infrastructure, citing trip hazards and property damage. You've got over a year to switch to strata-approved installs, smart locks, or a concierge service.

HOW IT SOLD

A reel, 17 shares and a $1.845m street record

Nine days after listing, Elle Ritson's Helensburgh listing sold prior to auction – setting a street record and 2026's highest sale in the suburb. A 20,000-view social media reel sparked four negotiating buyers, with transparency and speed keeping the process moving to $1.845 million.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Is your name invisible to AI? Start getting published. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Ray White Core Group opens seventh Victorian office

Beveridge has a new selling principal in Sharath Rao, who joins Ray White Core Group partners Anil Malik, Mark Srivastava, and Dhaval Mehta to open the group's seventh Victorian office. It's the sixth expansion for the Core Group across Melbourne's north and west, following Tarneit, Truganina, Rockbank, Point Cook, and Mickleham, with a first-year target of 100 sales and 100 new rental managements backing the launch.

REIACT honours more than 30 Canberra real estate professionals More than 30 sales, property management, strata and support professionals were recognised at REIACT's 32nd Awards for Excellence in Canberra, with 400 guests on hand for the announcements. Michael Ceacis of Select Property Group and Jane Macken of LJ Hooker Woden | Weston were inducted into the REIACT Hall of Fame, Peter Walker of Ray White Canberra took home the President's Award, and Dan Hawcroft of The Property Collective won the Achievement Award, headlining a night that spanned every corner of the profession.

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Crying, clapping, and recalculating my commission all at the same time 👏😭🚘

TRUE OR FALSE:

Wall Street takes its name from a real wall – a timber palisade thrown up across lower Manhattan in 1653 by English colonists worried about a Dutch attack.

And the answer is …

Actually, It's false. Backwards, in fact – the wall was Dutch, and it was built to keep the English out. In 1653, with the First Anglo-Dutch War underway and word of English troops massing in New England, Peter Stuyvesant (yes the guy who had a cigarette brand named after him) ordered a ditch, embankment and palisade run clean across lower Manhattan. The invasion never came, the English took the colony anyway in 1664, and the wall came down in 1699 – but the street kept the name. The boundary outlived the fence by 330 years and counting. via NYC Department of Records.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why your rent roll is worth more than you think

For twenty years, rent rolls have been valued the same way: at an average multiple of 4x annual management fees. David Highland, CEO of Highland Property, says that formula is already being rewritten for agencies running property management as its own business, not a support act for sales. His portfolio has doubled to 5,000 properties in two years by treating it that way.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The silo structure: why splitting property management and sales into separate P&Ls, cost centres and leadership changes how a rent roll performs.
• The quote-chasing bot: what happens when AI takes over repair quotes and reference checks, and what your property managers do with the hours back.
• The grandfathering effect: how a looming tax deadline is quietly making rent rolls stickier, and why that changes what yours is worth.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH CRAYONS CRM

The agency that killed 47 weekly tenant calls with AI

A Brisbane principal got so sick of paying $900 a month for software that still couldn't answer "is there a lock-up garage?" that he built his own fix. Russell Peter and Milo Holmes spent 18 months creating Crayons CRM, a chatbot that reads listing photos, answers tenant questions instantly, and just took out the People's Choice award at REACH's Top of the Props pitch night. If 47 identical phone calls a week sounds painfully familiar, take a look at what they've built.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DATA

Hotspotting names 10 affordable suburbs with real growth potential

Carlton units start at $321,000 and Gungahlin's from $440,000 – but Hotspotting says price alone doesn't make a suburb investable.

Tim Graham's list of five capital and five regional markets is built on population growth, infrastructure and tight vacancies, not just a low entry point.

"Cheap doesn't mean investable," Tim said.

Read the full article →

DEPT OF SALES

Why this isn't shaping up as another GFC

Prices would need to keep falling at July's pace for another nine months, to April 2027, before the annual decline matched the GFC's 7.9 per cent, says Ray White's Nerida Conisbee. She's not forecasting that – she's showing vendors what it would actually take. Undersupply, rising build costs, and improving investor yields are the reasons she thinks buyers return long before then.

DEPT OF DISPUTES

Evergrande founder gets life for $112bn fraud

Hui Ka Yan built China's largest property developer, then a Shenzhen court found he'd overstated Evergrande's revenue by roughly $112 billion between 2019 and 2020 alone. He's been jailed for life and stripped of his assets, with more than 50 others sentenced alongside him. The fallout will shape iron ore earnings, and by extension buyer confidence in Australia's resource-linked towns.

HOW IT SOLD

A tenanted terrace sold in one day flat

Private inspections only, tenants on side, and a $1.22 million result – Phill Healey turned a Mango Hill constraint into a selling point. The four-bedroom Capestone terrace attracted out-of-area buyers who'd done their homework on the street's reputation for quick sales.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Stories like this build your online reputation long after the sold sticker comes down. Want yours told? getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Real REMAX Group marks global milestone

The US$880 million merger between Real and REMAX Holdings officially closed this week, creating the newly named Real REMAX Group – but REMAX Australia managing director Joel Davoren says nothing changes for franchise owners here. Joel has led the local network's push for independence and member-first systems, and says that approach continues under the new global structure.

Ray White WA honours top performers amid market shift warning Eight consecutive years topping the settled commission ladder is a rare run – Vivien Yap and Ray White Dalkeith | Claremont added another at the network's annual awards, with Vivien also named Top Principal for Settled Commission. Stephen Cole of Ray White Broome swept the sales honours, while Georgia Higgs and Doug Corby led property management, as CEO Mark Whiteman flagged a shifting market ahead.

Monika Doyle returns to Barry Plant as Chief of Staff A brand refresh across roughly 70 offices, delivered in a matter of months, is what Monika Doyle is best known for at Barry Plant – and it's part of why the network has now created a Chief of Staff position for her. Monika joined as Head of Marketing in 2023 and led the rebrand that went on to win silver at both the 2024 Melbourne Design Awards and the 2025 WORLD Design Awards. Six months after returning from maternity leave, she steps into the newly created role at head office in Doncaster East, working across strategy and cross-department alignment as the network moves through its next stage of growth.

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House hunting is aesthetic, contract writing is survival 🏠📝

TRUE OR FALSE:

In Queensland, hundreds of houses a year are cut into pieces, loaded onto trucks and driven to a completely different address – the house sold separately from the land it was standing on.

And the answer is …

Yes its true! Timber Queenslanders on stumps are essentially flat-pack, and settlers were already shifting them in the 1860s. The industry never stopped – one Brisbane family firm reckons it has moved more than 7,500 homes across three generations. You can buy the house at one address and the block at another, and introduce them later. Everywhere else "the house comes with the land" is a law of nature. In Queensland it's a preference. via State Library of Queensland.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The ultimate Claudio Encina cheat sheet: 30 rules for any market

He's coached some of Australia's best agents for close to fifteen years, written for this magazine almost since issue one, and still gets on a Saturday call where someone else asks him the hard questions. Samantha McLean spent months in the Elite Agent archive – more than twenty recordings from 2016 to 2022 – pulling out the lines that survived every kind of market since. Here are 30 of his most valuable lessons.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The good faith guarantee: the script Claudio uses to write two competing fees onto the agency agreement and let results settle the argument.
• The seven-second rule: why he says your mind negotiates you out of the phone call before you've even picked it up, and what beats it every time.
• The first seven buyers: the pattern he tracked showing who actually buys the home, and why it changes what you tell your vendor before the first open.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH PM/ONE AND TAPI

Tapi helps property management teams take the stress out of maintenance by bringing jobs, messages and approvals into one place, giving property managers greater control and business leaders better visibility.

Its TapiHQ platform is an AI-first maintenance workbench, combining Maintain, Inbox, Manage and Comply to streamline maintenance coordination, from automated scheduling through to one-click invoice approval. The platform is designed to reduce complexity for property managers while helping businesses operate and grow with confidence.

At PM/ONE, attendees can see TapiHQ in action, meet the team and spin the Tapi Wheel of Chocolate, with a QR code competition offering the chance to win a special prize.

See Tapi at PM/ONE
PM/ONE brings Australia’s property management community together in Sydney on 13–14 September 2026. Explore the event and get your tickets at PM1.com.au.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DATA

Where $1M still buys a house outright

Nationally, 25 suburbs have every single house selling under $1 million – none of them in Sydney. But Sydney buyers aren't shut out: Blacktown's Willmot and Tregear sit at 99% sub-$1M, and stretching a Parramatta budget from $1 million to $1.3 million jumps your options from 3% to 25% of the market.

DEPT OF LENDING

29% of borrowers now spend half their pay on repayments

Finder's 2026 Home Loan Report puts a hard number on what you're already hearing at open homes: 29 per cent of mortgage holders now hand over more than half their take-home pay, with millennials worst off at 41 per cent on average. Meanwhile, a new survey by Money revealed younger Australians fear they may never own a home.

DEPT OF WEALTHY CLIENTS

London's priciest suburbs shed 25% in a year

Westminster prices have fallen more than 25 per cent since last year's non-dom tax changes and higher stamp duty pushed wealthy buyers to the sidelines.

Trevor Abrahmsohn says a $3 million London home that once drew 40 buyers and five bids now attracts 10 buyers and one or two offers – with many choosing to rent for up to $76,000 a week instead. A pattern worth watching if you work with high-net-worth or expatriate clients.

HOW IT SOLD

A backyard sealed this $1.85m family sale

Three offers came in from developers and families alike during a 70-day Melville campaign, but it was the back garden that won over the eventual buyers. Antony Doolin priced the 975sqm block to current conditions rather than the market of six months ago, and the vendors listened.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Stories like this build your online reputation long after the sold sticker comes down. Want yours told? getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Alexander Phillips launches Ray White Phillips & Co in Woollahra

More than $1 billion in property sales a year and 400-plus clients – that's the business Alexander Phillips brings to Woollahra as he launches Ray White Phillips & Co. He started 24 years ago delivering real estate magazines and is a fourth-generation salesperson, and now leads a new eastern suburbs office with access to Ray White's NurtureCloud and Smart Buyer Match technology.

Brett Reddell builds family succession plan at Area Specialist Six years after starting on a shoestring budget through a divorce, Brett Reddell has built a Gold Coast and Logan business he now credits with changing his financial trajectory entirely. His next project is closer to home: son Ethan Reddell, 20, already a licensed agent working alongside him, is being groomed to take over the reins gradually over the next five years.

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Done talking, back to closing 🤝💸

TRUE OR FALSE:

The U.S. scored the ultimate real estate deal, buying Alaska for two cents an acre, but the $7.2 million cheque bounced at settlement.

And the answer is …

It's False - The cheque never bounced, but the settlement period was an absolute nightmare. Congress spent months debating the funds, meaning the cheque wasn't actually handed over to the distressed vendor (Russia) until August 1868 - more than a year after the treaty was signed. A painfully delayed settlement that any agent (and conveyancer) can sympathise with! via Study.com.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

From eight-second bull rides to a real estate empire

Jesse Van Nek used to measure survival in eight-second bursts, riding 1,000-kilogram bulls across Australia and the United States. He quit real estate five times before it clicked. Now the Gympie broker-owner has taken home a national RE/MAX growth award, and he credits the same mental conditioning that kept him alive in the arena.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The detachment principle: why Jesse trains his team to stay emotionally removed from outcomes, and obsess over process instead.
• The belly-to-belly lesson: the mentorship moment that turned a "raspy little bull rider" away from transactional selling for good.
• The Gympie parallel: why Jesse says the region's median price right now is a rerun of history he's already watched play out once.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH EBM RENTCOVER

Why that small leak could cost your landlord's insurance claim

You know the drip you keep telling your landlord to sort "eventually"? EBM RentCover's latest reminder is worth sharing with every investor on your books: insurers can decline claims where the damage traces back to a maintenance issue the landlord knew about and sat on. That slow leak under the sink or the cracked roof tile might cost a few hundred dollars to fix today, but left alone it can turn into a thousands-dollar claim, and one that isn't covered. Have a read of EBM RentCover's full breakdown so you've got the talking points ready next time a landlord wants to put off a repair.

Learn more →

DEPT OF SALES

Five ways to turn prospecting procrastination into action

If prospecting keeps sliding to the bottom of your to-do list, Darren Krakowiak has a fix. His approach starts with the relationships you already have, then builds outward through warm introductions and a clearer picture of your ideal client. Small shifts, but they add up.

DEPT OF PLANNING

$146m to fast-track 18,900 Gold Coast homesites

Just 68 land lots were left for sale on the Gold Coast at the end of June, down from 92 three months earlier – and prices have followed, with land now averaging $1,752 per square metre. Queensland's government is stepping in with $146 million to fund roads, power and a sewage plant upgrade across Coomera, Pimpama and Robina, unlocking land for 18,900 future homes.

DEPT OF TAX

Foreign buyer approvals drop 22% after new rules

Foreign approvals for Australian residential property fell more than 22% to 5,284 last financial year, and that's before the real hit lands. Offshore buyers now account for just 0.5% of purchases nationwide, down from 0.8%, as tripled FIRB fees and a 30% capital gains tax bite. The purchase ban runs to 2029 – next year's figures will show the full effect.

Also… did you see

• Ray White recruits Alex Phillips (AFR | Paywall)

HOW IT SOLD

38 bids and a fixer-upper first home

A Mount Colah house needing cosmetic work drew five registered bidders and 38 bids under the hammer, with Nick Berman of McGrath Hornsby framing the renovation scope as a first-home buyer's entry point. A young family relocating from the upper North Shore secured the flat block, drawn by its walk to cafes, the station and school.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Stories like this build your online reputation long after the sold sticker comes down. Want yours told? getailsa.com →

CELEBRITY HOMES

Grade I-listed London mansion once home to Dickens lists

Hanover Terrace, the Regent's Park address that's counted Charles Dickens and Damien Hirst among its residents, has hit the market for £15 million (about $29.1 million AUD). The Nash-designed main house comes with a mews house out back – complete with a garage built specifically to fit a supercar. The garden alone, with its custom water features, is worth the click.

Read the full article →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Beba Ramic joins The Agency WA

Mosman Park has a familiar name under a new banner – Beba Ramic brings close to two decades of Perth residential experience, built largely on repeat clients and referrals, to The Agency WA. Her patch stays the same: Mosman Park and the surrounding suburbs, now backed by a new team.

Ray White Goulburn staffer to shave head for grandfather Six months into her role as a sales administration team member at Ray White Goulburn, Tamika Straney is already known around the office for more than her day job. On 23 October she'll shave her head for the Leukaemia Foundation's World's Greatest Shave, after learning earlier this year that her grandfather Robert, 80, has lived with chronic myeloid leukaemia for 15 years without telling the family. She's raised more than $6,000 of a $10,000 target so far, with colleagues and the local community backing her effort.

Geoff Grist joins Harcourts after 21 years in Mosman and Neutral Bay Four homes owned in Mosman, a business and an apartment in Neutral Bay, and 21 years spent opening a franchise, building a rent roll, then merging and selling a property management business – Geoff Grist knows the Lower North Shore from the inside out. He's now bringing that patch, and a Backpack Bed donated with every appraisal since 2004, to Harcourts.

OBrien network honours top performers at annual gala awards More than 350 directors and team members packed Melbourne's 1 Hotel for OBrien's annual Gala Awards, where Luke Magree of OBrien Frankston took Top Sales Agent after more than 150 sales and listings for the year. Michelle Stephens was named Top Selling Director with over 300 sales and listings, while Carrum Downs & Langwarrin claimed Number One Office on the back of 400-plus transactions.

Ripple Wu brings Box Hill team to Jellis Craig Box Hill has a new home base in the Jellis Craig network, with director Ripple Wu bringing her team and their property portfolio into the fold from 21 August. Ripple has featured in Australia's Top Women in Real Estate for several years running, and her arrival gives Jellis Craig Whitehorse a second office alongside its existing Blackburn base.

Gavin Rubinstein hits Elite status six weeks into the financial year Six weeks into the new financial year, and Gavin Rubinstein has already banked what most agents chase all year. The TRG founder is the first of Ray White's roughly 13,000 agents across Australia and New Zealand to hit Elite status for 2026/27, putting him on track for a 13th consecutive Chairman's Elite year, a run only five others in the network can match.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

Seen an Agent On Social we should include? Let us know here

TRUE OR FALSE:

The largest unreinforced concrete dome on earth was poured around 125 AD. Nothing built since has beaten it.

And the answer is …

True. The Pantheon's dome spans 43 metres and has held its shape for nearly 1,900 years with no steel in it anywhere. The Romans graded the mix as they went – heavy basalt down low, lighter stone above, then pumice at the crown, so light it floats on water. Modern concrete rusts from the inside once the steel starts going. Theirs just sits there. Ask your builder about that warranty 😉 via IET Engineering & Technology.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Hope is not a strategy – what Chris Hanley knows

The real estate industry is very good at talking about the market when the market is good. The Edit, our new podcast, is for straight talk with good people. Every track opens with one hard question facing agents and principals right now, put to people who have actually done the work.

Track 01 – Chris Hanley OAM, four decades in and a veteran of a GFC that took his Byron Bay market from 472 sales a year to 225. He talks to Samantha McLean about trust (5%, by his count), telling vendors the truth, and why hope is not a strategy.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The three winds: Chris breaks every market into headwind, tailwind or no wind, and only one of them rewards agents who wait it out.
• The 20/80 rule: most agents talk for 80 per cent of a listing meeting; Chris flips the ratio and explains why silence closes more than swagger does.
• The 11 questions: how Chris's question set gets anxious vendors through the hardest conversations without losing their trust.
  
  Chris joins Sam as co-host for several upcoming episodes so make sure you subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

Listen to the full episode ->

TOGETHER WITH DIAKRIT

New consumer research shows what Vendors and Buyers actually Value, Notice and Act On.

Turns out "less is more" isn't the flex agents think it is.

New Diakrit consumer research, done with Stone Real Estate, found buyers rank video and virtual tours above floor plans when deciding whether a property's worth a look, and 58 per cent of vendors say marketing strategy is now critical to choosing their agent.

The bigger surprise: vendors care less about your years in the business than what your last campaign looked like.

Have a read of the full report and see what it means for your next listing conversation.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DIGITAL BRANDS

Google's August spam update targets thin content

No blog post, no target list – just a rollout that started Tuesday and applies everywhere. What Google's policy does spell out is the risk: suburb pages with the same copy and swapped names, AI market wraps built from public data, and paid links that quietly stop passing value. Recovery isn't quick, so the fix starts with checking what's actually on your site.

DEPT OF SALES

Alan Kohler calls housing accord target a "fairy tale"

Australia needs 240,000 new homes a year to hit the National Housing Accord target. We're building about 180,000, says finance commentator Alan Kohler, leaving a shortfall of over 100,000 homes a year and counting.

"The target is a political round number," Alan says.

Read the full article →

DEPT OF TAX

Rents may need to jump 30pc to save investor returns

Ray White modelling shows investors now need a gross yield of about 5.15 per cent just to break even after losing negative gearing – and rents would have to rise 30 per cent nationally to get there without any price falls. Sydney and Brisbane face the steepest adjustment if rents hold flat. Nerida Conisbee says the fix will likely land somewhere between higher rents and softer prices.

HOW IT SOLD

A door knock led to a 60-year family sale

A conversation on a Winthrop doorstep turned into a trusted relationship for Meagan Xanthis, who sold the family's home of six decades in under 10 days. Marketing to both families and subdivision-minded investors, she found a buyer who'll keep the house intact.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Agents across Australia and New Zealand are turning sales into stories. getailsa.com →

CELEBRITY HOMES

Kim Kardashian's architect's London hideaway sells for $28.68M

The Hampstead villa was designed by Claudio Silvestrin, the minimalist mastermind behind Kim Kardashian's homes and Kanye West's Manhattan loft, and it's just sold for £15 million (about $28.68 million AUD). Before landing with a European family relocating for private equity work, it quietly hosted a rotation of Hollywood stars filming in London. Yes, there's a James Bond-style car lift in the garage.

Read the full article →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Winning is just the beginning for Barfoot & Thompson

Three world titles in one year at the International Property Awards – a first, according to Managing Director Peter Thompson – and his message to the 1,500-strong room at Summit 26 was that nobody gets to relax. The agency selling two of every five Auckland homes isn't defending its lead; it's pushing into commercial, rural and projects. The line worth stealing: the brand is an All Blacks jersey – you're only borrowing it, and your job is to hand it back better.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

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TRUE OR FALSE:

From 1912, Sydney banned any new building taller than 250 feet – roughly 25 storeys – because the fire brigade's ladders could not reach past it. The cap stayed on the books for 45 years.

And the answer is …

False. The cap was 150 feet – about half that. But fire was the reason: nothing could reach the upper floors of anything taller. The Act was finally amended in 1957 and the AMP Building went up at Circular Quay, doubling the skyline more or less overnight. via NSW Legislation – Height of Buildings Act 1912.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The '18-month' rule one office keeps breaking

Eighteen months. That's the average tenure for a property manager before burnout pushes them out, according to Ray White Highton's Amy Fonay. Legislative overload, tribunal complexity, and playing financial counsellor to stressed landlords and tenants are driving experienced professionals to the exit. Amy's office is retaining staff well beyond that window, and it starts with reading a "good morning" before it becomes a resignation letter.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The 'read them like a book' method: how Amy spots a bad day from the tone of a single greeting, before it turns into a walkout.
• The tightrope brief: why property managers are now unofficial solicitors and counsellors in one, and what that's costing teams who don't push back.
• The buy-in loop: the consultation habit Amy uses instead of top-down mandates, and why it kills resistance to change before it starts.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH PM/ONE AND PROPERTYME

PropertyMe helps real estate agencies bring property management, trust accounting, CRM, AI and everyday workflows together in one seamless platform, designed to reduce administration and give teams more time with clients.

Its platform includes Manage PM with trust accounting, Manage PM with Trustless for automatic owner payments, Grow CRM and AiMe, its AI built specifically for real estate. PropertyMe says its technology is used by more than 35,000 real estate professionals managing 1.9 million properties across Australia and New Zealand.

At PM/ONE, attendees can see live demonstrations of PropertyMe’s platform, explore its latest products and discuss how the technology can help scale a rent roll and grow an agency.

See PropertyMe at PM/ONE
PM/ONE brings Australia’s property management community together in Sydney on 13–14 September 2026. Explore the event and get your tickets at PM1.com.au.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DATA

Teneriffe becomes Queensland's first $5M suburb

Brisbane's Teneriffe has just joined a club that's almost entirely Sydney's – a median house price over $5 million, after a 48.6 per cent jump in a year. Only three other suburbs nationally have ever crossed that line, and half have since slipped back.

Atom Go Tian's read: the next one is more likely to come from Brisbane or Perth than Melbourne or Canberra.

DEPT OF INVESTORS

Melbourne apartments down 16% as regional towns surge

City of Melbourne apartments now sit 16 per cent below where they were a decade ago, even after the area added 54,000 residents – Propertyology has just named it the worst-performing market in the country. Meanwhile Bright and Mildura posted growth past 120 per cent over the same stretch.

"1 and 2-bedroom apartments in soleless blocks of concrete score a big fat 'F'," says Simon Pressley.

DEPT OF GOODWILL

Tokyo agency sells homes for 1 yen, banks referrals

One Yen buys a house through Tokyo agency Rewrite – about one Australian cent – for inherited regional properties nobody else will touch. The giveaway makes no money itself, but the goodwill has returned as referrals worth millions in fees.

HOW IT SOLD

Five offers land after a full staging overhaul

An interstate vendor set a firm price target, so Matilda Downard coordinated renovations and personally restyled and staged the Usher property herself, even buying a trailer to manage her styling stock. The home sold in 18 days for $640,653 after five offers, going to an interstate investor who bought largely off video.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Agents across Australia and New Zealand are turning sales into stories. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

REIQ names 40 real estate professionals as Fellows

Fifteen years of membership and a clean record of professional conduct now earn Queensland agents the right to add FREIQ after their name. This year's cohort spans 40 practitioners from Cairns to the Gold Coast, honoured by the REIQ Board for their contribution to industry standards. REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella points to careers shaped by changing markets and legislative reform, with certificates now landing across the state.

LJ Hooker names A Home for All primary charity partner LJ Hooker Foundation's more than 400 offices across Australia and New Zealand now have a shared cause through to 2028. The charity has named A Home for All Foundation, the REA Group-backed initiative tackling homelessness and housing insecurity, as its primary partner, with Simon Heathcote directing fundraising, education and volunteering efforts across the network ahead of this October's A Night Without Home campaign.

Building success through reputation in Leongatha Thirty-seven sales in fifteen months, and Matt Redmond says he hasn't made a single cold call to get there. Ten years into his real estate career, he's built his Area Specialist business in Leongatha and the wider South Gippsland region purely on word-of-mouth, while still finding time for weekly Saturday opens and week-long breaks.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

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TRUE OR FALSE:

Buckingham Palace is the personal property of the King. He could, in theory, put it on the market tomorrow – he owns it the same way he owns Sandringham and Balmoral.

And the answer is …

False. Sandringham and Balmoral are genuinely his, bought with private money and held under ordinary property law. Buckingham Palace is not. It's an Occupied Royal Palace, held in trust for the nation by the Sovereign – it can't be sold, mortgaged or gifted, and it passes with the throne rather than with the will. The most famous address in Britain, and nobody has ever held a saleable title to it. via The Royal Household – Royal Finances.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The word Fiona Blayney banned from her business

In 2015, Fiona Blayney banned a word from her vocabulary and never brought it back. The founder of Real+ and PM/ONE has spent two decades as the person Australia's property management businesses call when the numbers stop making sense, and more than a decade of her sharpest lessons – on cash flow, culling costs and running teams – have just been pulled from the Elite Agent archives.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The 'Bill' test: her take on firing "difficult" clients – one question decides whether cutting them costs more than keeping them.
• The club rule: why she scrapped the word "database" from property management and what she calls your rent roll instead.
• The barbecue test: the backyard scenario she uses to check whether your property managers can actually sell – and how to pass it.

Read the full article →

DEPT OF LENDING

Investors pull $4.2b from lending as rates bite

New mortgage lending fell for a second straight quarter, down 5 per cent to $97.6 billion, and it's investors doing most of the retreating – their lending dropped 10 per cent, the sharpest quarterly fall since 2015. Owner-occupiers held up better, off just 2 per cent.

NSW average loan sizes shrank $19,000 to $842,000.

DEPT OF DATA

Regional values hold firm as capitals slide 2.5%

Regional Australia is only down 0.1 per cent for the quarter, while the combined capitals dropped 2.5 per cent – but the buffer is wearing thin, with 22 of the top 50 regional centres now in decline. Kalgoorlie-Boulder is still selling in 11 days flat, while Bowral-Mittagong buyers are taking their time at a median of 86.

DEPT OF DATA

Glasgow homes sell in 11 days, UK data shows

Eleven days – that's how long it takes to agree a sale in Glasgow, the fastest of any UK city, against a national average of 30 days. Alto's Riccardo Iannucci-Dawson says the gap comes down to pricing discipline, not market conditions, with flats the clearest case of what happens when asking prices lag behind buyer reality.

HOW IT SOLD

A missed-out buyer becomes a two-day sale

Elle Ritson kept in touch with a family who missed out on one of her earlier listings, then matched them to a five-bedroom Helensburgh home before it hit the open market. The result: $1.79 million via off-market private treaty in just two days.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Agents across Australia and New Zealand are turning sales into stories. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

McGrath partners with Hodges to expand Melbourne footprint

Victoria's oldest real estate agency is stepping into a national network. Hodges, trading since 1854 across Bayside Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, has partnered with McGrath Estate Agents to form Hodges McGrath, spanning five Bayside offices plus Rye. Directors Michael Cooney, Julian Augustini and Andrew Boyce will lead the combined operation into its next chapter.

Brisbane agent's charity event aims to raise $104,000 again Brisbane's Sonya Treloar is hosting her second annual Hummingbird House fundraiser on 25 September, hoping to match the $104,000 raised last year by her 200 guests. The Ray White agent's dedication to Queensland's only children's hospice stems from a deeply personal tragedy in 1996, when she lost her premature son, Blake, at just six weeks old—a time when her family had no facility like Hummingbird House to support them through their grief. This year’s gathering will feature guest speakers and stories from families who have relied on the hospice, as the local community comes together once again.

Highland Group honours staff at Crown Sydney awards night More than 220 guests filled Crown Sydney's Glittering Pearl Ballroom for Highland Group's 2026 Awards Night, honouring long-serving team members alongside rising talent making their mark across the business. CEO David Highland said the night was less about results and more about the people who show up, support colleagues, and live the group's culture every day.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

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TRUE OR FALSE:

The top of the Empire State Building was sold to New York as a mooring mast for passenger airships. Travellers would step off a zeppelin, walk down a gangplank and be on the footpath seven minutes later.

And the answer is …

True - but it never once worked. The wind up there swirled so violently that the closest anyone got was a blimp hovering in 1931 to lower a bundle of newspapers on a rope. The mast quietly became a radio antenna instead. Sixty metres of headline amenity, built mainly to out-tall the Chrysler Building down the road. Every listing has one feature like that – the one nobody ever uses. via Smithsonian Air & Space.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why freedom is the hardest thing to manage

No office hours, no one checking your diary and no cap on your ambition. Trent Brewer says that's exactly what trips up young agents, not a shortage of leads or listings. In this piece, the Urban Real Estate sales director unpacks a line from his CEO that reframed how he coaches new team members, and why the agents who last aren't chasing the newest strategy at all.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The freedom trap: why the flexibility that drew you to real estate can quietly become the thing holding your pipeline back.
• The disappearing buyer problem: what to do when every signal says a buyer's ready, then they vanish anyway.
• The overnight success myth: the unglamorous, repetitive pattern behind agents who suddenly look like they've "made it".

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH REALESTATE.COM.AU

Ten agencies get behind REA's red doors for Hackdays

For the first time, REA Group is letting customers behind the red doors for Hackdays, its four-day innovation sprint that's usually an in-house affair.

Ten agencies were picked from submissions around the country, including Ray White Mildura, LJ Hooker United Group and McDonald Partners Real Estate, each bringing a real business problem to solve alongside REA's technical teams in September.

The ideas range from automated rental enquiry handling to vendor pricing reality checks, real ground-level thinking about the actual friction agents deal with every day.

Take a look at all ten submissions and what they're building.

Learn more →

DEPT OF LENDING

Low-deposit scheme buyers mostly avoid negative equity

Just 87 of the roughly 48,000 households using the expanded 5% deposit scheme are sitting in negative equity – that's fewer than one in 500. Outback Queensland buyers are doing best, with average equity gains of 14.2%, while Sydney's Eastern Suburbs sit at just 0.8%. Economist Luc Redman's take: when rates ease, these entry-level regions will move first.

DEPT OF DATA

Geraldton house prices jump $380K as population rebounds

Geraldton lost almost 1,700 residents aged 25 to 44 between 2014 and 2019 – then gained over 1,100 of them back within five years. That population swing has pushed median house prices from around $280,000 to $660,000, with rents now near $575 a week.

Nerida Conisbee says prices are softening, but a return to last decade's weak conditions looks unlikely.

DEPT OF DATA

NZ profitable resales hit near 14-year low

Just 86.9% of New Zealand resales turned a profit in Q2, the weakest share since late 2012, and profitable sellers are now holding for a median of 10.4 years – a record. Auckland and Wellington posted the highest loss rates at 20.9% and 18.4%, though long-term owners there still banked the country's biggest gains. Kelvin Davidson says don't expect a quick turnaround, "It's difficult to see resale performance improving significantly in the near term."

Read the full article →

HOW IT SOLD

Building report turned four-day turnaround

An under-roof granny flat drew families and buyers with mobility needs to this Stafford Heights home, and Allie Coutts had one locked in within the first week. When the building report flagged issues, she coordinated engineering reports and three builders' quotes in four days, keeping the deal on track to a price that left sellers "very grateful, very happy".

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Agents across Australia and New Zealand are turning sales into stories. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Ray White SA and NT celebrate 2026 award winners

Adelaide Convention Centre hosted a record 820 guests as Ray White South Australia and Northern Territory marked a $7.64 billion year of sales, up from $6.2 billion, and 8,862 properties sold across the network. Ray White Glenelg | Brighton was the night's standout, with Justin Kurenda, Adam Keane and Jed Redden collecting the CEO's Cup while the office also took out Top Overall Office and Top Metro Office. Jed added Top Salesperson honours, and colleague Jacob Kinsman was named Operations Manager of the Year.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

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TRUE OR FALSE:

The first land grant in Australia went to a convict. In February 1792 Governor Phillip formally granted 30 acres at Rose Hill to James Ruse, a Cornish farmer transported for burglary.

And the answer is …

True. James Ruse arrived with the First Fleet – transported for stealing two silver watches – and when his sentence ran out, a starving colony needed to know whether a man could feed himself off the land. Governor Phillip gave him 30 acres at Rose Hill to find out; Ruse called it Experiment Farm, and it worked. The grant was recorded in February 1792… and he sold it the next year for £40. A classic 12-month off-market flip by a highly motivated vendor, though missing out on some serious capital growth - that 30-acre parcel in modern-day Harris Park would easily fetch over $400 million today 🤯 via Museums of History NSW.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The 70-30 rule behind network control

Modern agency success relies on collective support without losing local identity. First National Real Estate CEO David Edwards unpacks how their co-operative model uses a 70/30 split between local decision-making and national compliance guidance, and why that balance is critical in today's market.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The 70-30 test: the exact split Mr Edwards uses to separate national brand protection from your own local call on running the business.
• The cross-brand poaching trap: why chasing agents with higher commissions from the office down the road might be shrinking the talent pool, not growing it.
• The six-question checklist: what to ask any head office, franchise or cooperative, before you sign anything, from AI policy to succession support.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH BUYERSAGENTS.COM.AU

buyersagents.com.au launches the 2026 Australian Buyers Agent Index survey

If you're a buyers agent, here's your chance to help write the numbers everyone else quotes. buyersagents.com.au has opened the 2026 Australian Buyers Agent Index, a 15-minute survey covering deal volumes, fees, client acquisition and the challenges you're actually dealing with day to day.

With buyers agent adoption up 40 per cent year-on-year, it's about time the profession had a proper benchmark instead of guesswork.

Leon Hayes, the company's CEO, put it simply: "There has never been a rigorous, independent benchmark of how agents actually operate, where they are headed, and what challenges they face."

The survey closes 31 August 2026, with results shared back with every participant. Take 15 minutes and add your voice at buyersagents.com.au/australian-buyers-agent-index-survey.

Learn more →

RETROSPECTIVE

What Dr Fred Grosse told me in 2014 that I wasn't ready to hear

Hey team, Sam here. As tributes continue to flow across the industry for Dr Fred Grosse, I dug out an interview I recorded with him back in 2014. The truth? I wasn't quite ready to absorb everything he was trying to teach me back then. Listening back to the original transcript over the weekend - his foresight is staggering.

Years before anyone else saw it coming, he predicted the exact shift from 'information' to 'skill' and laid out the blueprint for modern real estate success. Here is the story I probably should have written the first time.

DEPT OF LENDING

NT dominates 5% deposit scheme suburb rankings

Eight of the top 10 suburbs for the federal 5% Deposit Scheme just came out of Darwin, not Sydney or Melbourne. Zuccoli topped the list with a $715,000 median, 34.9 per cent growth, and homes gone in 14 days. Worth knowing when clients ask where the scheme actually stretches furthest.

DEPT OF DATA

Nearly half of young renters still renting at 50

Three in five Australian renters now expect they'll never own a home, and almost half of younger households are projected to still be renting privately past 50 by 2040. A new Luxo Living index ranks Australia 15th globally for "forever renting", with house prices outpacing wages by almost 22 per cent since 2015.

HOW IT SOLD

Nine weeks stalled, then three offers in one weekend

A Hilton character home sat unsold for weeks until Emma Orchard rolled up her sleeves – buying doona covers, pillows and a rug herself, and repainting a dark pink bedroom white. The staging overhaul brought three competitive offers in a single weekend, selling for $1.2 million to a young family who valued settlement terms over price.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Agents across Australia and New Zealand are turning sales into stories. getailsa.com →

AGENTS ON SOCIAL

Seen an Agent On Social we should include? Let us know here

TRUE OR FALSE:

The word 'Skyscraper' was in use for almost a century before it referred to the height of a building.

And the answer is …

True. Before it meant a building, 'skyscraper' was a tall sail, a high-standing horse, a very tall man and a ball whacked high into the air. The word only attached itself to architecture in 1880s Chicago, once steel frames and safe lifts produced buildings that needed a name of their own – and then it swallowed every other meaning whole. Nobody's called a horse a skyscraper since. The right name eventually finds the right property. via Online Etymology Dictionary.