Tuesday, 12 August 2025

 Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (13:05): If you are trying to buy a home right now, you will know that the cards are stacked against you in so many ways. But there is a simple thing that the government can do right now to make things easier: they can end underquoting by real estate agents by forcing them to disclose the reserve price when they advertise a property. Every weekend first home buyers – renters trying to break into the market, young families – are pouring money into inspections and legal fees and wasting their weekends bidding on homes that they never have a chance to secure. In some suburbs, nine out of 10 homes sell way above the price guide – in Richmond one property sold $450,000 above the guide – and the Labor government has known about this for a long time. In fact for three years they have been sitting on a review, which cost $400,000 of taxpayers money, into underquoting, and they have refused to release it. Victorians paid for this review, and they deserve to see it. It is laughable, really. Rampant underquoting across Melbourne is this city’s worst kept secret. That is why the Greens are introducing a bill to mandate the disclosure of reserve prices and introduce stronger penalties for real estate agents who underquote. If Labor were serious about transparency and if they were serious about fixing the housing crisis, they would release the report and they would support this bill.