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Buyer’s agents are in hot demand as home buyers and investors seek expert help to navigate Australia’s fiercely competitive property market, where tightening supply is driving intense competition.
Demand for buyer’s agents is rising as owner-occupiers and investors turn to them to navigate Australia’s competitive property market, according to Matthew Symons of Balmoral Financial.
Over the past five years, Symons has witnessed a significant increase in property buyers relying on buyer’s agents.
He attributed this surge to tightening supply, which has intensified competition in the market.
“The biggest factor is definitely a tightening of the housing supply,” Symons said.
“With fewer properties available, competition is fierce. Buyer’s agents give clients an edge by providing expert guidance, access to off-market opportunities and stronger negotiation power.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that only 44,884 dwellings were completed in the September 2024 quarter, far below the federal government’s target of 60,000 new builds per quarter.
This is creating a very tight market, where buyers are struggling to secure properties, making expert guidance more valuable than ever,” Symons said.
Symons noted that owner-occupiers and investors are seeking buyer’s agents for different reasons.
“I’ve noticed that more of my owner-occupier clients regard working with a local buyer’s agent as a competitive advantage,” he said.
“The buyer’s agent knows their preferred suburb inside out, street by street, and can give them access to off-market properties. Increasingly, they’re willing to pay for this so-called unfair advantage.”
Symons noted that investors, on the other hand, tend to be less concerned with location specifics and more focused on finding investment-grade properties with strong capital growth and rental aspects.
According to Symons, this requires the type of research and data expertise that most buyers do not have.
He likened the growth of the buyer’s agent industry to the rise of mortgage brokers 20 years ago.
“Two decades ago, people were more sceptical of brokers and many preferred to go straight to lenders directly. But as more buyers worked with brokers and saw the benefits, word spread,” Symons said.
He emphasised that at the time, many people were sceptical about working with brokers and preferred to deal directly with lenders.
“Over time, mortgage brokers became a trusted part of the process and now around 75 per cent of all loans originate via a finance broker,” Symons said.
“I believe buyer’s agents are on a similar trajectory, much like how they’ve become a norm in the United States.”
Despite this growth, Symons acknowledged that some clients remain hesitant to use buyer’s agents, often due to concerns about the costs involved or issues trusting what the client can realistically achieve.
“That said, many change their mind when considering a potential financial upside,” he said.
“For example, if a consumer buys a $2 million home and it grows 10 per cent in the first year, they gain $200,000 in equity, which far outweighs the nominal fee for the buyer’s agent.”
Symons predicted that as people see their friends, colleagues and relatives benefiting from buyer’s agents, the initial resistance will fade.
With the housing supply expected to remain tight in the coming years, he forecast continued growth in the buyer’s agent industry.
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