NSW Cracks Down on Underquoting
New NSW laws will force agents to publish seller price guides on every listing and impose heavy penalties — fines up to three times an agent’s commission and up to $110,000 for dummy bidding reported. The move raises demand for auditable, compliant communication tools across agent workflows.
The Minns government opened formal consultation on tougher underquoting rules on Nov 13, 2025 nsw.gov.au, and the release said legislation would be taken to Parliament in 2026 nsw.gov.au. Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong confirmed a draft bill and said the reforms will require a published Statement of Information detailing comparable sales and the suburb median price connectwithanoulack.com. NSW Fair Trading issued more than 100 penalty notices for underquoting in 2024 eliteagent.com, while authorities launched 89 investigations and deployed about 40 inspectors in 2025 to bolster enforcement activities queanbeyanage.com.au. The package is explicitly modelled on Victoria’s 2016 underquoting regime, which generated millions in sanctions and set a compliance precedent the NSW government is following nsw.gov.au. Industry figures such as Tom Panos have warned that AI tools could be used to police listings—characterising automated monitoring as “speed cameras” for auctions—and media reporting links AI surveillance to the government’s reform rationale realestate.com.au. Fair Trading has signalled it will issue clearer guidelines requiring agents to calculate and revise estimated selling prices and to publish explanatory documentation, plus new reporting and professional‑development offences insidestategovernment.com.au; that regulatory design implies a business need for auditable, timestamped Statements of Information and archived client communications to demonstrate compliance under enforcement review realestate.com.au.
