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The events of 2021 reinforced the fact that, for the time being, we should expect the unexpected. REB’s top 10 stories reflect a year in which change came often and the industry was called on to address a number of unforeseen issues.
From seemingly ever-changing regulations implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to networks making major announcements in relation to staffing and structure, this year held a number of big stories that made us stop and take note.
Here are REB’s 10 most-read stories from the past 12 months:
Gearing itself towards growth in 2021, one of Australia’s biggest real estate groups announced a number of new appointments, starting at the top.
LJ Hooker Group said that the realignment of its leadership structure and a number of executive and senior appointments would “see the business deliver a consistent, targeted strategy in how it drives performance and supports its offices and people across the group”.
A Milton property manager was banned from working in the real estate industry and ordered to pay $75,000 in compensation after she pleaded guilty to stealing from clients.
NSW Fair Trading found that Adele Woods, formerly a senior property manager at Tucker’s Real Estate in Mollymook, had transferred money from the real estate company’s trust account to her personal bank accounts on 50 separate occasions between December 2016 and April 2019.
Real estate giant Ray White took a firm stance in response to the news that the principal of the network’s Balmain office, Karl Howard, was being held under police guard on allegations he attacked two women — one with a samurai sword.
The LJ Hooker Group moved into a new era of real estate when it launched “Atlas by LJ Hooker”, a brand name and visual identity developed to “better reflect the global thinking and insights that underpin the company’s overarching focus”.
The government’s May 2021 budget drop included the establishment of a Family Home Guarantee, the expansion of the New Home Guarantee and an increase to the First Home Super Saver Scheme, among other initiatives that directly impacted the work of the real estate industry.
While initially billed as a “post-pandemic spending statement”, the months following forced the government to rapidly reassess the funding that was needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidenced by the topics dominating REB’s top four most-read stories of 2021!
A new NSW Fair Trading operation targeting real estate agents who failed to lodge their trust account audits for 2019-20 resulted in eight real estate agent licence cancellations, nine licence disqualifications, and almost $175,000 in penalties.
Then-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and treasurer Dominic Perrottet introduced an economic support package worth billions of dollars aimed at helping businesses and people right across the state fight through the current COVID-19 lockdown, which included significant incentives for landlords to reduce the burden on COVID-19-affected tenants.
A Victorian government directive drew a line in the sand for agents when it mandated that every authorised worker in the state must have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Friday, 15 October, to work outside the home. Those found to have gone without the jab faced fines of $20,000 themselves or a $100,000 fine for their agency.
A number of new restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of the virus across NSW left the state’s real estate industry in the dark as to how to proceed with maintenance and cleaning of rental properties and homes for sale.
Following the NSW government’s pause on cleaning and construction, REB sought clarification on how the real estate industry was meant to navigate the new directives.
An NSW Health spokesperson clarified to REB and updated the state’s health orders to specify: “Cleaning, maintenance and repairs is permitted in unoccupied residential premises in Greater Sydney, provided it is necessary for the sale or lease of the premises.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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