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GUEST OBSERVATION
David Airey, the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) president, is a very credible property commentator, and a person well-qualified to comment, having up-to-date property market data, analytics and substantiated facts immediately on hand.
Real estate industry representatives are far more aware of real-time market activity than some property commentators who are not actually involved in the industry and therefore prone to misinterpreting data.
Terry Ryder has taken misinterpretation to a whole other level when he questions ‘the words of real estate agents and their representative bodies’.
He would have you think that those working in the industry are all part of some Machiavellian plot.
<a href="/expert-insights/caution-inhaling-real-estate-agents-words-may-be-dangerous-to-your-financial-health-terry-ryder">In his attack on a REIWA press release</a>, Mr Ryder is denying that the Perth market place is slow. Is he trying to say that its market, like those in Mackay and Moranbah, are unaffected by mining downturns?
<a href="/expert-insights/there-is-no-conspiracy-in-reiwa-market-commentary-david-airey">David Airey addresses this in a response to Mr Ryder</a>, referring to a cyclical WA property market that is very closely linked to the fortunes of the mining and resources sector.
Mr Airey also affirms REIWA’s obligation to advise the public about changing market conditions and not to suggest that people shouldn’t buy or invest in the Perth market.
Engaging in the market – any market - requires good research, good timing, realistic expectations and a long-term outlook. In some instances, the real estate market can change rapidly and dramatically.
The public needs market commentary such as REIWA’s, which is, as David Airey says, ‘telling it like it is’.
If Mr Ryder has any credible data that proves the WA statistics coming out of the Institute are incorrect, then he should use them.
Terry Ryder has finally written an article that totally discredits himself as a property commentator, and one in which he’s sounding alarmingly more like a conspiracy theorist.
MICHAEL DAVOREN is managing director of <a href="https://www.remax.com.au/" target="_blank">RE/MAX Australia and RE/MAX New Zealand</a>.
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Property commentators and conspiracies: Michael Davoren

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GUEST OBSERVATION
It appears the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) is resigning from the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA).
In my opinion it is a very short sighted move.
I am opposed to the move because the issues that impact on and influence the real estate industry in Australia, and therefore the real estate industry in Queensland, are increasingly coming from outside the state and often across national boundaries.
Foreign investment review, federal taxation, money laundering, and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regulatory guidelines and laws are just the tip of the iceberg.
All the more reason for the industry needing a national unified front.
Technology is one of the greatest pressures to bear on the industry. There should have been a 100% industry owned portal well before now, for instance.
Licensing and related activities are just about the only significant priority of the state.
To its credit, the REIQ did an outstanding job in recent negotiations with the Newman government in introducing Queensland’s new Property Occupations Act.
The REIQ is being extremely short-sighted in thinking that it can handle national and international affairs.
This decision to separate from the REIA is not in the interest of REIQ members and also disconnects REIQ members from their industry peers in other states.
For some members, the ability to compete in awards at national levels is a personal and professional goal - the national auctioneering titles, for example. Such national opportunity will disappear as an outcome of the REIQ decision. To take it away from Institute members is a massive blow.
The current real estate institute model – a federation style structure – hasn’t been relevant for years.
As a past president of both REIQ and REIA, I have been involved in many discussions over many years relating to how our Australian real estate industry should have evolved.
The Australian real estate industry’s natural progression should have been toward a fully funded and resourced peak body, which is a model that has served a number of industries well. One example is the pharmaceutical industry where the Pharmaceuticals Industry Council (PIC) was established in 2006 as the peak body for Australia's pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
PIC represents a whole-of-sector approach to addressing opportunities and threats to investment in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries sector.
This is where the real estate industry should be. Under the peak body model, it would put the industry in a position to show a unified national stance and in the best position to deal with a plethora of major challenges.
While I do not support the path the REIQ has chosen – and am disappointed by its lack of communication with its members around this issue - the REIQ’s actions leaves the door wide open for an alternate peak-performing national body to replace what has gone before. 
If this occurs, it could attract a lot of support from the industry.
Michael Davoren is managing director of <a href="https://www.remax.com.au/about-us" target="_blank">RE/MAX Australia and RE/MAX New Zealand</a>. He is a past president of both REIQ and REIA.
REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella responded to the column pre-publication with: "The REIQ remains a member of the REIA and our chairman Rob Honeycombe is attending an REIA board meeting today. "Our sole focus has always been and always will be to represent the best interests of REIQ members. "Over the last 12 months our central focus has been to serve our membership, and we've delivered exceptional results in this regard.   "The legislative reforms we negotiated for the Queensland real estate profession speak volumes about the strength of our advocacy and our commitment to the REIQ membership."
 
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Any REIQ split from REIA is short-sighted: Michael Davoren

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Strengthening compliance and enforcement around foreign investment in Australia was a good thing, however a fee structure that made Australia non-competitive was not.
When foreign investors are looking at Australia, they are also likely to be looking at New Zealand, where there is no stamp duty and no capital gains, for instance.
The UK, USA and Canada may also be considered as investment markets, and no residential property application fees exist.
So the proposed fee for foreign investment in Australian property is higher than that in other countries such as Switzerland and Austria; but Austria and Switzerland are not realistically on the same real estate page.
Sure, the fee will generate dollars; but don’t turn the foreign investors away for any short-term financial gain.
Michael Davoren is managing director of <a href="https://www.remax.com.au/about-us" target="_blank">RE/MAX Australia and RE/MAX New Zealand</a>.
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FIRB fee could turn away foreign investors: RE/MAX's Michael Davoren

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The Australasian real estate industry is as mature as any on the planet. We compete against our peers globally and do it well.
Within the global brand I’m associated with, RE/MAX, with its presence in 95 countries, Australia currently has an impressive 13 of the top 20 international teams.
The Australasian real estate industry and Australasian real estate agent practices stand up very well against other nations, and I’d go so far as to say may often beat many international peers hands down when it comes to skills, characteristics and methodologies such as multiple marketing options including the auction system. It is indicative too that real estate is more widely perceived as a career than in many other countries.
In comparison, for example, with the US and Canada, the Australasian real estate industry is not of the same scale. We don’t come close to the huge numbers of offices and agents involved there… yet! I have no doubt that Australian and New Zealand real estate offices will continue to grow both in numbers of agents and services provided by an office.
On my recent trip to Canada, for example, where RE/MAX has 36% market share, I saw some massive operations. I spent time in one real estate business, Richard Pilarski’s RE/MAX Realtron Realty. He has eight offices in Toronto with in excess of 700 sales associates. One office alone has 300 sales associates.
Will Australia and New Zealand follow down the path of creating real estate operations to that scale?
There are offices with 100-plus agents in Australia already; and while we may not see offices with 300-to-400-agents or greater being commonplace in the short term, there’s every possibility we’ll see 30-to-50–strong sales forces on the rise.
For instance, in Canada and the US, no more than approximately 30 per cent in the real estate industry work from an office, and that is a growing trend here in Australia.
With ever-expanding technology, there is a lot more capacity for people to work remotely; so we can expect that real estate businesses will expand without us necessarily seeing bigger physical premises where sales, property management and financial specialists gather and work. RE/MAX AIRR is one such existing example - where portals and databases are more important, and more widely used, than desks and office car parks.
Michael Davoren is managing director of RE/MAX AUSTRALIA and RE/MAX NEW ZEALAND.
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Michael Davoren

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