Source : THE AGE NEWS
Real estate agents grappling with falling property prices are talking themselves through the crisis, claiming that seeking discounts could be rude, all but begging buyers to return or deploying stunts as they try to drum up customers in an industry that once printed money.
Tax changes for investors and interest rate rises responsible for plummeting property prices have led realtors once known for boasting about strong sales to fundamentally change their tune online.
The new tone from a profession that witnessed soaring profits during recent housing booms comes amid reports of workers leaving the sector and agencies collapsing or merging due to the downturn.
Charles Touma, a Ray White agent in inner Sydney, repeatedly addresses the weakening market on Instagram. In a post from the middle of this month, he addressed the auction clearance rate in his local Redfern and Surry Hills zone falling to 16 per cent and how “buyers are making one big mistake because of it”.
He warned buyers against waiting for prices to drop further and told them to be content with the relative reductions compared with the peak at the beginning of the year.
“If you’re a buyer right now, yeah, you’re getting a discount on prices since February. Take advantage of it. Don’t pick the bottom. Nine times out of 10, you miss, and the quality of choice is really, really poor,” Touma said in one video.
In another post last week captioned “Buyers don’t feel urgency right now. So how do you create it without manufacturing it?”, Touma provided advice to agents struggling to engage with buyers, drawing on the same things. “Challenge the buyer,” he said.
Median house values have dropped 5.3 per cent in Sydney since January and 5.1 per cent in Melbourne since November. Experts have warned prices may not begin rising again until late next year, or early 2028, and financial markets now believe interest rates could go even higher.
Tom Panos, auctioneer and real estate commentator, has claimed agents across the country have been asking him to post about their local suburbs to drum up excitement amid the slump. He has pushed back such agents.
“Stop waiting for rates, headlines or buyers to save you,” he said. “Don’t manufacture optimism just because reality is uncomfortable.”
Brent Day, Melbourne agent and director of Dayhouse, generated attention by posting a photo of a woman who had purportedly stolen items from an open home in a social media post that also included each affected room.
After users scrolled through every slide and essentially viewed the house listing, Day admitted in the final slide that the thieving home inspector was entirely made up and her photo generated by AI. “Nothing was stolen … we just wanted you to look through the entire house. And you did,” he said.
Day stood by his tactics despite the outrage, said “no harm was meant by it”. “It got people talking about and looking at the property, which was the intent,” he said.
Liam Cromarty, a Newcastle agent, last week attempted to discourage frustrated vendors from ditching agents and selling their homes themselves to recoup commissions amid dropping prices.
“The only person that benefits from you selling your house yourself is the buyer,” he said. “ You’re just working out what the minimum is you can sell, whereas an agent’s focused on getting the maximum.”
In another recent post, Cromarty warned buyers who think “they’ve got all the power” in the current market: “Never offer too low because you will insult the owner.”
In response to questions from this masthead, Cromarty defended the videos and noted agents had recently begun leaving the sector in response to the downturn.
“An agent’s relevance can no longer begin when someone decides to sell and end when the property settles. I believe real estate businesses need to become media businesses as much as property businesses,” he said.
“That means educating, informing, entertaining and being part of the community every day, including when the market becomes more difficult. A lot of agents get it wrong at the moment and either use fear for attention or are clowning around for clickbait,” Cromarty said.
There have been several reports to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission of real estate businesses going under during the downturn.
Sydney agent Thomas Merriman has taken a different approach amid the cooling market. Encouraged by discussions he has with vendors and buyers about the government’s tax changes affecting the market, he posts regular videos talking about politics to engage prospective sellers and buyers alike.
He said he had seen staff in agencies begin to disappear, and competent agents recently forced to drive Ubers on the side to support their lifestyles.
In one video, he talks about greater resources taxes being discussed in Canberra as an alternative to investor tax changes to boost government coffers. He also canvasses policy ideas from Pauline Hanson and David Pocock. In another, he encourages people to persevere in the market through to auctions.
“Sellers and buyers rely more on objective and factual information rather than slimy sales tactics,” he said.
Touma did not respond to questions.
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Elias Visontay is a National Consumer Affairs Reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
