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The nation’s peak real estate body has found cyber security concerns are of paramount importance to the real estate sector, with new insights revealing most agents are highlighting concern of its repercussions.
As part of the Real Estate Industry of Australia’s (REIA) contribution to the federal government’s Cyber Security Strategy Discussion Paper, the Institute found a majority of agents are worried of the widespread implications cyber security threats pose.
“Cyber security is a front of mind issue for real estate businesses in Australia, recognised as a growing economic and reputational threat,” he said.
“Awareness was heightened with high-profile businesses like Optus and Medibank being hacked in October 2022.”
In addition to the attacks on telecommunications and healthcare providers, which impacted nearly 10 million Australians, Harcourts also experienced a cyber breach at the back end of last year.
As a result of such hacks, question marks have been raised about real estate data regulation, particularly those related to the rental process, with Dr Chris Martin of the University of NSW City Futures Research Centre urging a government overhaul of the system last November.
Mr Grove explained that a survey of REIA members, which represent 85 per cent of Australian real estate businesses, at the end of last year found cyber security ranked as the third highest business issues.
“Deeper insights show that 78 per cent of real estate business owners continue to be concerned by the threat of cyber attacks, with real estate companies of all sizes suffering over the past 12 months at an average cost of $33,442 to medium-sized enterprises,” he added.
It’s not just businesses wearing the brunt of cyber threats, with reports in April 2022 revealing Australians lost in excess of $300 million to scams throughout 2021.
He added, “30 per cent of agencies surveyed nominated issues relating to data privacy and security as a barrier to implementing new technology.”
Mr Groves believes the real estate industry is in a unique position whereby it accounts for a large segment of the Australian economy, with the property sector valued at $300 million annually, yet 99 per cent of its 44,000 agencies, which themselves employ over 130,000 people, are small businesses.
“Be it home sales, residential and commercial rents, or large-scale commercial and residential transactions, real estate businesses have both a large financial role as well as a very substantial Personal Protected Information (PPI) role across buyers, sellers, tenants, investors, and any other parties,” he said.
Add to this the industry’s consumer base, which is estimated to include seven million Australians assisted into home ownership or rentals each year, and Mr Groves believes more should be done by governments to provide crucial support in not just protecting the industry, but all Australians.
In its recommendations to the federal government’s Cyber Security Strategy Discussion Paper, the REIA called on governments to shift focus away from regulatory frameworks and reform and focus on “working with the real estate business sector on adoption and establishing an ongoing way of working across our workforce,” which it believes “would be a better use of the resources of the strategy.”
“Cyber security protection is crucial to the real estate industry and all Australians need to know they are protected,” Mr Groves concluded.
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