Morning Briefing: Expert oversight needed for real estate industry

One of New South Wales’ peak real estate bodies has called for the State Government to improve how the industry is monitored... Approaching Easter break causes auction surge...

Expert oversight needed for real estate industry
One of New South Wales’ peak real estate bodies has called for the State Government to improve how the industry is monitored and regulated by the appointment of a Commissioner for Property Services.

Currently under the purview of NSW Fair Trading, the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) believes the property industry, due to its size and complex nature, deserves to be overseen by those with an intimate understanding of how it operates.

REINSW president John Cunningham said the current supervision model monitoring the real estate industry doesn’t treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

“The whole property sector is the biggest income earner for the state and we just feel that it’s not being treated with the seriousness it should. We’re not getting experts or specialists in their fields who understand what we’re about,” Cunningham said.

“We go into meetings and we find that people don’t understand what’s going on and they then have to go and research,” he said.

Approaching Easter break causes auction surge
The approaching Easter break has seemingly lit a fire under vendors across Australia, with the country’s auction market set for what is easily its busiest week this year.

Accroding to figures from CoreLogic RP Data, volume increases in all markets mean 3,369 homes across the country are set to go under the hammer this week in what is the busiest week since the end of November 2015 when 3,729 auctions were held.

After a down week last week due to the Labour Day public holiday, Melbourne has roared back to claim the title of the busiest individual market, with 1,701 auctions scheduled compared to the 420 held last week.

Melbourne’s clearance rate finished at 68.6% last week, the third highest of any market.

Unsurprisingly after the massive increase in volumes, the five busiest individual suburbs; Glen Iris (29), Kew (26), Reservoir (26), Hawthorn (24) and Northcote (23) are all located in Melbourne.

After holding 729 auctions last week, Sydney has managed to push into four figures in terms of volumes, with 1,074 auctions scheduled.

Sydney finished last week with a relatively strong clearance rate of 71.2%, good for the second highest mark in the country.