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Western Australians have the highest opinion of real estate agent ethics across the country, while Queenslanders hold the worst perception of the profession, according to the findings of a new survey.
The state-by-state breakdown comes from the Governance Institute’s Ethics Index, which quantifies the Australian adult population’s perception of the overall importance of ethics and gives an indication as to the actual level of ethical behaviour within Australian society.
REB reported yesterday that real estate agents have improved their ethical standing in the eyes of the public – up 19 points from the result reported in 2019.
REB can now reveal that the ethical perception of real estate agents does drastically differ state-to-state.
Western Australians have the highest ethical opinions of real estate agents, with individuals surveyed within the state giving agents a net ethical score of 8, five points clear of the second ranked state by perception.
Overall, 31 per cent of Western Australians considered real estate agents as somewhat ethical, while 13 per cent considered agents as very ethical. This outweighed the 13 per cent of respondents from the state who considered real estate agents as very unethical, and the 23 per cent who considered real estate agents as somewhat unethical.
The second most ethically rated state for real estate, and the only other state breakdown to rule agents net ethically, was Victoria, with a net score of 3.
While 12 per cent of the state’s respondents considered agents as very ethical and 28 per cent considered agents as somewhat ethical, 12 per cent had a very poor perception of the industry’s ethics, while one-quarter – 25 per cent – indicated agents were somewhat unethical.
Queenslanders appear the most cynical of the real estate profession, reporting a net score of -11.
The majority of respondents from the sunshine state flagged real estate agents as very unethical (14 per cent) or somewhat unethical (29 percent) compared with the 22 per cent of respondents who considered agents to be somewhat ethical and the 10 per cent who see agents as very ethical.
NSW residents scored real estate agents a net score of -1, while South Australians reported a -6 net ethical score.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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