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Brendan Wong
The ‘who’s who’ of Sydney real estate have come together to discuss the need for increased professional standards and an appropriate regulatory environment in New South Wales.
The REINSW held its first industry summit last Friday, bringing together over 60 industry leaders from across the state to discuss the future of the real estate profession.
Deputy president of the REINSW John Cunningham said the cross section of representatives ensured there was solid feedback as to the direction of the profession and the issues that mattered.
The four key topics that were identified by the delegates were the standard of education and training required to enter the industry and to obtain a licence, the virtual duopoly situation with regards to real estate portals and data providers, participation in the REINSW’s advocacy and lobbying activities, and consumer expectations and the client experience.
“The action points from it were we’ve got to create a better regulatory environment to work in, with standards of entry and ongoing professional development,” Mr Cunningham said.
“That ultimately requires a strong and cohesive national voice … We need to get that consistency across all states and until that happens, national licensing will never be a practical reality.”
He added that the four issues discussed were all linked to the desired outcome to become a more professional industry.
“We are very keen to be viewed as a profession, but we can’t do that with such low standards that operate at present,” he said.
Among those in attendance at the summit were McGrath chief executive John McGrath, CENTURY 21 Australia chairman Charles Tarbey and managing director of Morton&Morton Ewan Morton.
Mr Morton said having principals together in one place to discuss issues in real estate was a positive step.
“With some of the issues that are facing the industry, if they can get a united effort from agents to help solve that, I think that would make a difference, so I really applaud John Cunningham and the other directors for facilitating and making that happen," he told Real Estate Business.
Mr Morton said discussions over education requirements to enter the industry stood out to him.
“One of the points that was made, which was really good, was you get governments that like to reduce barriers to entry so that a lot of people can get into real estate and that’s all very well, but what actually occurs is you end up getting a whole lot of people into real estate who actually don’t know what they’re doing,” he said.
“I think by bringing down the entry, they actually make it more difficult for people to get established in the industry. The reason they need education requirements is to support people to establish themselves and have a career in real estate, and I think that’s what we’d like to see - real estate more as a career."
