NSW government to establish task force to look into real estate agents underquoting of properties
The state government had promised a crackdown on real estate deliberately under-quoting properties. New figures obtained by the ABC show complaints of under-quoting are on the rise. The government concedes penalties are inadequate and the illegal practice increasingly goes unreported.
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00:00A renovated two-bedroom home in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Marrickville was recently
00:06put on the market with a buyer's guide of $1.5 million.
00:11But at auction, bidding started at $1.8 million and the property sold for more than $2.1 million.
00:18The sale price was 40% higher than the original buyer's guide.
00:22It's just one recent example of under-quoting, which is when a real estate agent issues a
00:27guide that is well below what they actually expect the property to sell for.
00:31The practice is against the law, and according to Fair Trade in NSW, reports of under-quoting
00:36are on the rise.
00:38It received 168 complaints in 2023, and so far this year it's already received a further
00:45105 complaints.
00:4755 fines have been issued since January, compared to 54 for the whole of 2023, and on average
00:54each fine is just over $2,000.
00:57NSW Strata and Property Services Commissioner John Minns has acknowledged the fines were
01:01often inadequate, and under-quoting is happening more often than the complaints they're receiving.
01:07He says a new taskforce would crack down on repeat offenders by imposing harsher penalties,
01:13including potential prosecution under consumer laws.