“A change is gonna come” for Sydney buyers’ agents

Two days ago, our Principal, Chris Curtis attended an all day NSW Fair Trading Property Agent Business Leaders Forum.

Designed specifically for Class I licensees, it was hosted by the newly minted and impressive Angus Abadee (MC), NSW Strata and Property Services Commissioner.

Despite four hours and five minutes being devoted to selling agents, the mere 55 minutes devoted to buyers’ agents  yielded some important takeaways:

• judging by the avalanche of pre-event questions, we are not the only buyers’ agent deeply sceptical about the current ‘one size fits all’ licensing regime which we discussed here in detail:

  NSW Buyers’ Agents and conflicts of interest:not as portrayed by the ABC, much better than the USA but still needing urgent reform

•  even Fair Trading seems confused about buyers’ agents with another Fair Trading speaker defining them as a “licensed real estate professional who exclusively represents property buyers.” Problem is and as our article above discusses, neither the legislation nor regulation contains any such definition. Ironically however, it’s a definition which mirrors the code of conduct also discussed in that article which never saw the light of day
• similarly, the low barriers to entry and near complete absence of continuing professional development courses tailored to buyers’ agents is a major concern. Compounding this is the so-called ‘borderless buyers’ agent’ regime that has existed since 1 July 2025 under which State jurisdictions mutually recognise interstate buyers’ agents with little more than two hours effort. It is madness
• while confirming that the existing licensing regime was here to stay, Mr “operationalise” Abadee lamented that Fair Trading “hasn’t done as much as it should have in the past”, that he was “absolutely supportive” of dedicated buyers’ agent modules and will “look at changing CPD” for buyers’ agents
• equally hot and as concerning as it is notorious (again, see our article above), Mr Abadee said Fair Trading “has been looking into conflicts of interest as the dominant complaint” about buyers’ agents and that tip offs in that and other respects were essential.

All up, NSW Fair Trading is to be congratulated on this initiative.

Having experienced its predecessors for over four years as a member of the Buyers’ Agents Chapter of the REINSW, Chris got the sense and hope a “change is gonna come.”

And not a moment too soon.