Underquoting by Real Estate Agents - it's a no, no

In 2025, underquoting remains a concern, but NSW Fair Trading is striving to eliminate this practice by introducing mandatory CPD courses aimed at addressing the issue and educating real estate agents.

In recent seminars organized by Fair Trading, Class 1 agents were invited to attend and discuss the issues related to the practice of under quoting, which took place in Sydney.

In 2023, inspectors from NSW Fair Trading conducted evaluations of NSW real estate agents and published their findings. Below is an excerpt directly from NSW Fair Trading for 2023.

"Results from underquoting compliance inspections

NSW Fair Trading inspectors visited 87 agents in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan area in June to check compliance with underquoting rules. If you are an agent, follow the underquoting rules when selling property to avoid financial penalties. A breach may result in a $2,200 fine for an agent or a corporation.

Inspection results – June 2023

NSW Fair Trading inspectors conducted 87 agent inspections, 15 of these were undercover. 45 (of the 87 inspections) were to previously non-compliant agents. 66% of these agents were found to be compliant – a positive outcome that shows most agents are taking action to do the right thing.

50 agents were not compliant with the underquoting rules. The most common breaches included:

• lack of written records for verbal price representations

• unreasonable estimated selling prices

• failure to comply with licensee’s rules of conduct and the supervision guidelines.

28 agents were fined, losing a total of $52,800 for a range of breaches including underquoting. 10 agents received warning letters and 12 received verbal warnings and guidance. Remember to follow the rules You can only promote a property for sale with accurate information, including a reasonable and fixed selling price. You cannot promote a property price as:

• an estimated amount, for example $XXX,000+

• 'offers over' or 'offers above' a certain amount (or any similar statements).

If the estimate is a range, an agent can quote that range as long as the higher price does not exceed the lower price by more than 10%. For example, $500,000-$550,000."

The above is an extract from NSW Fair trading website Customers can report non-compliance on the NSW Fair Trading website at any time. Visit our underquoting web page for more information.

Note: this article, originally published in 2023, is being republished with revisions

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