Keep moving and adapt: What sets high-performing agents apart amid slowdown

On the latest episode of Property Buzz, recorded live following the REB Top 100 Agents event in Sydney, Real Estate Gym founder Tom Panos said top agents continued to achieve strong results despite challenging market conditions.

While weaker sentiment had affected the industry more broadly, Panos said the best agents had adapted on the fly and continued operating with minimal disruption.

“There are agents that are saying ‘what’s happened?’ and there are others that are saying ‘It is what it is, let’s get on with it,” Panos said.

“So it doesn’t surprise me that some of the [REB Top 100 Agents] are basically saying we’re probably doing 10 or 20 per cent lower than before, but they’re not doing 50 per cent lower.”

With social media and news outlets at vendors and buyers' fingertips, Panos said that agents needed to manage expectations and be upfront with sellers.

“Vendor management is telling the truth, and I am telling the truth. I don’t like sugarcoating things.”

“I can tell you, it’s not a good story if real estate agents are saying the market is a lot better than it is,” Panos said.

Similarly, with auction volumes more than 30 per cent lower than last spring, Panos said it was important for agents to be honest about the state of the market, and its lack of strength compared to the historical surge.

He said the increased likelihood of another rate rise before the end of the year had placed even more strain on the national property market.

“Rates are tipped at only a 20 per cent chance of going up in September, but there’s a high probability they are going to go up again because of this inflation,” he said.

“The last thing we want as an industry is to be sending the message that the clearance rates are a lot better than they are.”

Opportunities in the market

Despite falling prices nationally, Panos said there was opportunity for buyers in the current market.

“If you’re buying and selling in the same market, then really nothing has changed.”

Panos said that individual property markets had been impacted differently based on the combination of location and price point.

“The most expensive properties in Australia have copped it the most, with drops of around 15–20 per cent,” he said.

While the more expensive end of the property market had seen a drop in values, Panos said competition intensified at the affordable price points.

He said that the affordable properties had appeared to garner interest from first-home buyers, as well as investors who were being more conservative with their real estate plans.

Geographically, Panos said that Sydney and Melbourne led the decline in property values, while the mid-sized capitals of Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide had held firm until recently.

Taxation changes

Panos said that the government intervention in the property market had ruffled feathers across the country, with agents and investors heavily impacted.

“What we’ve got here is most people, nearly all people, are unhappy,” he said.

“The people that own real estate aren’t happy because you’ve told them the equivalent of ‘your kid’s ugly’ because their house has dropped by 15 per cent.”

He said that the government had missed the opportunity to show real leadership and had actually compounded the national supply problem.

“At no stage did they actually say ‘we’ve got a housing supply issue here, let’s address it. In fact, what’s happening post-budget, less houses filled, and developers are going belly up.”

While the property taxation changes had dampened overall market activity, Panos said the current market was perfect for investors who didn’t require negative gearing benefits.

“If you’re my kind of investor, which is that you weren’t the type that had 50 properties on the go relying on negative gearing, now you’re buying good value at 10–15 per cent lower, rents are going up, it’s happy days.”

Listen to the full episode here