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The national institute looks back on a century since the conference that voted to establish its existence.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) deputy president and Real Estate Institute of NSW (REINSW) board director Leanne Pilkington marked the occasion and kicked off the institute’s “REIA 100 Celebration”, which pays tribute to the 15 September 1923 gathering as well as the institute’s formal establishment in 1924.
Ms Pilkington remarked that this “exciting milestone” offers a time to consider how the industry has changed.
“It’s a great time to reflect on how the real estate sector has evolved to reflect the face of modern Australia. Not only are we a workforce of 67 per cent women, we are also a multicultural reflection of the communities we operate in across suburbs and towns across Australia, and often have bilingual offerings where these markets demand it like in Chinese and Indian communities,” she said.
The institute offered some comparisons between 1923 and 2023, noting that the average price for Paddington Terrace in Sydney’s inner city then cost £1,750, with the city’s median house price now sitting just over $1.5 million.
The average price for male adult employees was £3 19s, while for women it was £2. In 2023, the Australian minimum wage equates to $882.880 for a 38-hour week.
“A quick look at the then and now [not only] shows how far we have come in the industry, but also how real estate markets and our real estate workforce have developed as Australia emerged as a nation,” Ms Pilkington said.
“In 1923, the federation was only 23 years young, with delegates to the conferences still even referring to their state as a ‘country,’” she noted.
And those delegates, of course, were all men, while the collective group of real estate bodies across the country now counts seven female chief executives across seven foundation members and four affiliates.
With media reports of the time announcing that the establishment of the institutes aimed to “clean up the business and eliminate the footpath type of agent”, Ms Pilkington also remarked on how the organisation has always made it its goal to support and advocate for the betterment of the industry.
“The REIA 100 has three pillars: commemorate, celebrate and looking to the future. We are an industry that has adapted, evolved and pioneered real estate markets. Now it’s time to look ahead to the next 100 years of Australian real estate,” she said.
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