DESPITE the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) recently calling for 10 industry recommendations for all residential sales, a local real estate agent said the ideas were unlikely to benefit vendors and buyers in the south-west.

The REIV published the list in response to Consumer Affairs Victoria’s 2022 Property Market Review that seeks to address the issue of affordability of property, and other barriers facing those wishing to enter the market in Victoria.

The REIV said the recommendations form part of a broader suite of recommendations that would ensure fairness and transparency for vendors, buyers, and estate agents alike.

“REIV recommendations aim to ensure efficient, informed, and transparent residential property transactions, a fairer housing market, and better pricing transparency,” REIV president, Adam Docking said.

“These changes would go a long way in supporting the Victorians in their real estate aspirations and ensure that consumers receive well-informed, professional advice from their agent.”

However, Groves Real Estate principal, Darren Groves said that whilst some of the recommendations had merit, overall, they reflected a trend in the industry to make decisions based on city or suburb situations and ignored factors that made regional housing unique.

An example was the first one on the list: ‘enhance the Statement of Information to ensure evidence-based pricing for all residential properties’ - Mr Groves said it wasn’t likely to be a meaningful reform locally.

“That Statement of Information’s a new thing that only come in a couple of years ago,” he said.

“All it is, is (to show) three comparable sales in the last 18 months.

“It’s really hard in Hamilton to get three (properties) as best you can, sometimes.

“(But) if you look at Southbank (inner-city), you (might have) three apartments in the same tower that have just sold – and they’re identical.

“Here in Hamilton, we don’t get that.

“The Statement of Information is exactly the same for a 50-year-old weatherboard house in Kent Road as it is for a brand-new apartment in Southbank.”

Mr Groves also said some of the recommendations were simply good business sense, such as “mandatory ongoing professional development for estate agents and agents’ representatives”.

“At the moment that’s not compulsory, but we’re continuously training our staff as best we can,” he said.

“But people seriously want to run a business and not train their staff?

“Forget real estate – what businesses out there don’t want their staff to continually improve and upgrade?

“I’m thinking of tractor dealerships, every time there’s a new model, there’s new this, there’s new that – they’ve got to go and do a course on it.

“Car dealerships the same, anyone selling computers or anything that’s technology, they’ve got to keep up to speed.”

With an estimated 95 per cent of real estate transactions taking place in Melbourne, Mr Groves said he wasn’t surprised the recommendations were skewed a certain direction.

“Really all they’re trying to do is tighten up the regulations a bit,” he said.

He said one recommendation he would like to see that would benefit the area was to introduce a national standard, as real estate agents close to state borders had to have dual licences to operate.

His colleague, estate agent, Sam Groves, said most of the recommendations were geared to “aid the purchaser and make the process more transparent” and thought it “may make an impact on the rapid growth we have seen in regional Victoria over the last few years.”

“We have seen a lot of investors sell off their properties over the past few years, simply from the rise in price,” he said.

“If more incentives were offered to investors to purchase, we may see them return to the residential real estate market and bring more supply to the rental market.”

Both agreed the last two recommendations which covered the Tenancies Act and property tax were more about lobbying the government for legislation change, and overall the list represented good intentions but they felt the specifics needed to be adaptable for the different needs of real estate agents outside of Melbourne.

Mr (Darren) Groves said otherwise - “they just take up a massive amount of time … that don’t really benefit our business or our vendors”.

“We (want to) make it as simple as possible for people to sell their properties for the best price they can get.”

REIV’s 10 key recommendations:

1. Enhance the Statement of Information to ensure evidence-based pricing for all residential properties.

2. Mandatory ongoing professional development for estate agents and agents’ representatives.

3. Compulsory registration of all bidders at auctions and identity verification of vendors and buyers involved in a residential sale.

4. Adoption of an industry-wide standard for listing material facts, where buyers identify what is material to them.

5. Full disclosure of the sale price for all residential sales once a contract becomes unconditional.

6. Adoption of a standardised contract for the sale of all residential real estate.

7. Property to be offered for public sale once supporting documentation has been completed.

8. Ensure the sale of all new residential real estate is bound by the same price disclosure regulations as required by real estate agents.

9. Review the Residential Tenancies Act to address housing availability issues.

10. Reform the current property tax regime which contributes to the high cost of changing properties and continues to be a stumbling block for many buyers.