Thursday, 14 August 2025

Housing affordability

Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:28): I have got a question for the Minister for Consumer Affairs. Real estate agents are notorious for underquoting on house prices, causing disappointment and expense when buyers pay for building reports and turn up to auctions only to discover the reserve price is way above the advertised price range. A recent analysis of 25,000 houses showed that more than half of them sold at above the upper limit of the advertised price range. This often affects first home buyers and young people. The government has not released a 2022 report on a review of the laws regulating Victoria’s property market. Will the government now release that report?

Nick STAIKOS (Bentleigh – Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Local Government) (14:28): I very much thank the member for Brunswick for his question, because I have been waiting patiently over here all year for a question, and it has come from the Greens political party.

Jacinta Allan: Wait no longer.

Nick STAIKOS: Absolutely. Firstly, the report that the member for Brunswick refers to is a cabinet-in-confidence document. The second thing I would say is that I agree with the member for Brunswick, as does the government, that underquoting is an unethical practice. It is a dishonest practice. That is why since 2017 this government has had the strongest underquoting laws in Australia. We have established the underquoting taskforce. That taskforce has monitored 2500 sales campaigns, and it has issued fines amassing more than $2 million. Because our underquoting taskforce has been so successful, New South Wales has copied our underquoting taskforce. That underquoting taskforce has been so successful that it is now a permanent enforcement arm of Consumer Affairs Victoria.

But I will also say that this government will not rest until we stamp out underquoting, because it is a very, very dishonest practice. Earlier this year this Parliament passed a bill that increased fines for underquoting to more than $48,000 every time an agent is caught underquoting. Those opposite voted against that bill. It is this side of the house that is committed to ensuring we stamp out underquoting, because it is unethical because it draws people into a sales campaign when all along they could not afford that property in the first place. Too often the victims of underquoting are young first home buyers. We are committed to stamping it out. That is why Consumer Affairs is currently in VCAT and in the Federal Court pursuing underquoting. It is why this government has a commitment to stamp out that dishonest practice.

Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:31): It sounds like we will not be seeing the report that I asked about, but given we have a shared interest in stamping out underquoting I should point out that that analysis of 25,000 sales took place under the regime introduced several years ago by the government, so there is room to further improve the regime. Even the Real Estate Institute of Victoria has now said that it supports publishing reserve prices ahead of auction to increase transparency. Will the government legislate mandatory disclosure of reserve prices before auction?

Nick STAIKOS (Bentleigh – Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Local Government) (14:32): In answer to the supplementary question, I repeat what I said on the substantive question, and that is that this government acknowledges that there is always room for improvement. That is why since 2017 we have continued to step up our enforcement regime when it comes to underquoting by establishing the underquoting taskforce, by making it a permanent arm of Consumer Affairs Victoria’s enforcement framework and by increasing penalties for underquoting. Every step of the –

Tim Read: On a point of order, Speaker: relevance. I will not repeat the question; the minister knows what it is.

The SPEAKER: The minister was being relevant to the question.

Nick STAIKOS: The member for Brunswick mentioned the REIV. The REIV are one of my stakeholders. I continue to work with all stakeholders, including the industry and including consumer advocates, to ensure that we have the best laws in place, because being the Minister for Consumer Affairs is about ensuring fairness and equity for all Victorians.