Underquoting crackdown: Victorian agents forced to reveal sold property prices

Currently, there is no obligation to publicly disclose the final sale price of a property, with many listings simply marked as “price withheld” or “contact agent” once sold, or taking months to be available.

The government said that the current system had been distorting the market as buyers tried to gauge price trends in their local area or to assess the accuracy of advertised guides.

Minister for Consumer Affairs Nick Staikos said that keeping the price of property sold secret has impacted market fairness, making it less competitive.

“This is artificially inflating house prices, that’s not fair and why we’re changing the system.”

“Buying a house is stressful enough – so we’re making it fairer by requiring the sold prices of homes to be disclosed.”

It is alleged that the lack of transparency has made it difficult to track a property’s estimated, reserve, and final sale prices, fuelling underquoting.

In November 2025, the Victorian government introduced new plans to ban homes from going to auction unless the reserve price has been disclosed at least seven days before the sale. The plans will be introduced to the state parliament later this year.

According to the state government, too many Victorians had been “wasting” their weekends attending auctions for properties beyond their budget.

Similarly, if re-elected, the Allan Labor government has announced a new mandatory building and pest inspection scheme requiring vendors to organise and pay for reports, making them available to all potential buyers.

To be launched in 2027 and informed by the ACT’s model, the state said that the new model would make due diligence more affordable and accessible, reduce risks for buyers, and allow the savings from multiple reports to go toward a home deposit.

However, the policy has raised concerns among the industry that sellers would opt for inspectors who may downplay defects.

According to the state government, the series of new regulations will give buyers, vendors, and agents a clearer view of actual market values, improve price estimates, support fair reserves, reduce wasted auctions, provide reliable comparables, and expose underquoting.

Consumer Policy Research Centre CEO Erin Turner said that transparency in the property market was more important than ever.

“Most Victorians will buy a home once or twice in their lifetime – It is crucial to have transparent information about sales prices to navigate this high-stakes and stressful process,” Turner concluded.