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The Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) are calling on real estate agents to increase the professionalism of the property investment industry.
PIPA has announced an ambitious strategy to raise the professional standard of property investment advice.
The New Year marks a new push for PIPA, according to chair Ben Kingsley, with the association calling on all professional practitioners – including mortgage brokers, financial planners, accountants and real estate agents – to join forces and increase the professionalism of the property investment industry.
“There are more than 80,000 professionals, employed either directly or indirectly within the property investment industry, giving opinions and advice to consumers,” he said.
“However, our figures indicate that less than one per cent of those are actually formally qualified to offer direct property investment advice."
Unlike the areas of financial planning, real estate and mortgage broking, the provision of property investment advice continues to be unregulated.
Currently anyone can promote property as an investment option.
Despite a lack of regulatory framework around property investment advice, any professionals that provide services relating to property investment can become formally qualified and recognised for their expertise through PIPA’s Property Investment Adviser Accreditation Course according to Mr Kingsley.
“PIPA will continue to lobby the Australian government to regulate the property investment industry – and this is top of our agenda in 2013,” he said.
“But in the meantime, we’re calling on members of the industry to work together to protect our reputation and help consumers seek out qualified professionals who have both the educational and ethical standards required to provide quality advice on property.”
As one of the most common investment selections among Australians, the fact that property remains an unregulated asset class is ludicrous, Mr Kingsley said.
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