This news piece from Domain below just confirms what we have been saying for many months on the subject of underquoting. We look forward to the new underquoting Bill passing through NSW parliament shortly (outlined below).
This will be a game changer for vendors and buyers and will stop dodgy agents overquoting to vendors (to secure a listing) or underquoting t0 sellers to hasten the sale no matter what the result. It will create realistic and evidence-based property pricing for sellers and buyers.
Agents will not be able to quote prices to buyers outside the selling agency agreement know as the “estimated selling price or price range”.
Sydney’s most inaccurate house-price quoting is happening in the city’s north-west, according to data that shows prices in some suburbs have been incorrectly quoted by almost a quarter during the winter period.
But agents have hit back at the data from price predictor tool realAs, saying the suburbs in question are being targeted by an international market and developers who are willing to pay above and beyond a reasonable market value.
RealAs figures, which compare the publicly quoted price to the eventual sold price of a property at auction, show the majority of the city’s worst suburbs for price quoting, including North Ryde, Gladesville, Epping and Lane Cove, lie north-west of the CBD. via www.domain.com.au
UNDERQUOTING REFORMS – New laws coming soon
Underquoting describes when an agent understates the estimated selling price of a property. This can cause interested buyers to waste time and money on inspecting properties, getting reports and attending auctions based on misleading estimates of the selling price.
The NSW Government is introducing reforms that address underquoting in the NSW property market and provide clarity for buyers, agents and vendors. The reforms are designed to prevent properties being underquoted – that is, marketed at a price less than the agent’s true estimate of the selling price. The proposed laws would also enable effective enforcement. By setting clear requirements for agents to understand and adhere to, agents will be able to be audited against the new requirements and prosecuted if they breach them.
The reforms will be before the NSW Parliament in the coming weeks and are expected to commence in early 2016. Consumers can refer to this page for updates, while agents should check they are subscribed to our Property Industry News email alerts.
Simply because a property sells for higher than a buyer expects it to does not mean underquoting has occurred. Sometimes competitive buyer behaviour can result in a much higher sale price than what an agent could have reasonably estimated the property to sell for. The reforms will however require an agent to be able to show that their estimate was reasonable, up-to-date and evidence-based.
The underquoting Bill will shortly be available on the NSW Parliament website: 
www.parliament.nsw.gov.au
regards,
Andrew Bruce
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
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In a conversation with Matthew Shalhoub of Sydney auctioneering company Under the Hammer today, Matthew commented that most good agents are now selling property prior to auction. Buyers are thinning out across all sectors – there’s no doubt that the reset button has been pushed and given past performance in a top of market cycle, there is usually a period of about 3-4 months of stabilisation. We then start to see consolidation again.
