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In a major milestone, REB has unveiled its brand-new Stellar Agencies, the definitive ranking identifying the top 10 independent real estate start-ups transforming the property management sector and gaining ground on established franchised agencies.
The Stellar Agencies ranking recognises the nation’s top performing independent new agencies shaping the future of the real estate industry.
The ranking celebrates offices in their first five years of business that have leveraged the latest technology and marketing strategies to offer a true point of difference to vendors, buyers, landlords, and tenants.
Stellar Agencies pinpoints the nation’s top new property management agencies that have grown their rent roll at a significant pace in the first few years of business.
To calculate the findings, REB commissioned Agile Market Intelligence to find the top performing businesses based on the following three metrics:
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Properties under management (PUM) during the 2024 financial year up to 30 June 2024 (FY24).
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Growth score calculated through the rent roll growth in each agency during this period.
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Number of property managers at each agency, used to calculate an efficiency score based on the average number of properties per manager.
Key findings
The Stellar Agencies ranking has uncovered several interesting trends in the strategies employed by the industry’s top performing start-ups, their location, and how they have harnessed technology to achieve efficiencies.
In particular, metropolitan Queensland and NSW dominated the rankings, with four of the start-ups located in the Sunshine State, three in NSW, two in Victoria and one in South Australia.
Trends across top 10 agencies
Overall, the top 10 stellar agencies had an average of 778.5 properties under management and were given a growth score of 192. However, removing the top performing agency from the equation gives a different perspective: with 395.7 properties under management and a growth score of 120.
The average number of properties under management for all 10 of the Stellar Agencies was 128.
Ranking highlights shift away from trust accounts
Notably, amid ongoing trust account abuse by a select few rogue agents, the ranking has shown that a number of the nation’s top performing start-ups have discontinued using a trust account and switched to new automatic payment technology.
Forty per cent of the top 10 agencies have replaced trust accounts with an end-to-end property management solution, which is built around a digital rental payments platform.
The solution not only transfers rental income in real-time between landlords and tenants, it also enables property managers to manage rent rolls and includes a marketplace that connects agencies and investors with tradespeople so they can carry out maintenance work.
This has eliminated the need for manual reconciliations of landlords’ and tenants’ monies, removed human error, and mitigated fraud and misappropriation by preventing the misallocation of rental funds. It has also enabled agencies to adhere to strict legislative requirements as per the Property and Stock Agents Act.
The Stellar Agencies ranking showed that using the platform has increased the potential for profitability. Those four start-ups using automated payment software recorded an efficiency score of 142.35 rental properties per manager as opposed to 119 for agencies using traditional software.
Stellar agencies innovating to drive growth
Editor of Real Estate Business, Liam Garman, said the invaluable new ranking has highlighted the top emerging agencies spearheading innovation in real estate.
“In a very short time, these top 10 real estate start-ups have established themselves as leading players in the industry through sheer hard work and dedication to propelling their sector to new heights,” Garman said.
“The pace at which these agencies have grown their rent rolls, won listings, and reaffirmed their value proposition for their clients is pleasing to see. The ranking has showcased the fastest-growing agencies across Australia by using our robust methodology.”
To view the full REB Stellar Agencies 2025 report and ranking, click here.
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