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Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →Victoria has changed what a buyer is entitled to know about the price of a home before and after it sells. In a news alert published on 2 October 2026, Consumer Affairs Victoria, the state's regulator of estate agents, confirmed that the first set of changes to the property sales and underquoting laws took effect on 1 October 2026.
Two of them touch the most guarded numbers in a residential sale. Buyers can now see the seller's reserve price seven days before an auction or a fixed-date sale, and they can see the sold price seven days after a sale becomes unconditional. A third change tightens the document that sits behind every advertised price, which must now say more about the comparable properties an agent relied on.
The regulator's guidance page for agents, last updated on 1 October 2026, adds an important detail on timing. Most of the changes started on 1 October, but the requirements for auctions and fixed-date sales apply on and from 16 October 2026. Until then, the page says, the current rules apply to those sales.
Consumer Affairs Victoria, news alert of 2 October 2026 and guidance for estate agents last updated 1 October 2026.
What changed on 1 October
The alert from Consumer Affairs Victoria lists three changes in this first set, all for residential sales in Victoria.
The first is the reserve price. Under the new rules, buyers can get the seller's reserve price seven days before an auction or a fixed-date sale.
The second is the sold price. Buyers can now get sold price information seven days after a sale becomes unconditional.
The third concerns the Property Price Statement. According to the regulator's guidance, this document replaces the Statement of Information that agents have prepared until now. It must give more detailed information about the comparable properties used to support the estimated selling price, and the Director's Guidelines on comparable properties have been revised to match.
Related readThe developer's NOC in a Dubai resale: fees, validity and disputesThe alert does not name the amending legislation and gives no penalty amounts. It describes the changes as the first of two sets, with the second due in mid-to-late 2027.
How the reserve rule works
The mechanics are set out on the guidance page for estate agents. An agent must publish the seller's reserve price at least seven days before the auction or the fixed-date sale. Publishing it is not a single act: the agent must also update all advertising for the property and the Property Price Statement.
The form of the figure is tightly defined. The reserve must be a single dollar amount. The guidance rules out words and symbols that soften it, giving "from", "over", "+" and "starting at" as examples of what may not appear next to the number.
The page includes its own worked example. For a sale held on 16 October 2026, the first day on which the auction requirements apply, the reserve must be disclosed by 9 October 2026. That is seven days earlier, and it means the first reserves published under the new rules are due this week.
No published reserve, no auction
Consumer Affairs Victoria's guidance says that if the reserve price is not published seven days before, the auction or fixed-date sale cannot go ahead. The page adds that penalties apply, without stating the amounts.
The seven-day rule therefore works as a condition of the sale itself, not only as an advertising rule. A campaign that reaches its last week without a published reserve has no auction to hold on the planned date.
Sold prices and the 18-month record
The sold price rule has no delayed start. The guidance says it applies from 1 October 2026 to any sale that becomes unconditional on or after that date, even if the contract was signed earlier. A contract signed in September whose conditions are satisfied in October is covered.
Related readWhen a buyer stops paying in Dubai: what the developer may keepThe agent's duty is to update the Property Price Statement with the sold price seven days after the unconditional sale. The statement must then stay publicly available for at least 18 months, unless an exemption applies.
The guidance describes one ground for exemption. The Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria may grant one in circumstances involving personal or family violence affecting the seller or the purchaser. The page presents this as a decision for the Director, not something an agent or a seller can apply on their own.
For buyers, the practical effect is a record that builds over time. Each statement shows what was advertised, which comparable sales supported it and, once the sale is final, what the property fetched.
The statement behind the advertised price
The Property Price Statement carries more than its predecessor. According to the guidance, it must include the key features of the property being sold and the key features of each comparable property. It must also be displayed prominently in online advertising, and the page is specific that this does not mean the bottom of the listing.
There are four templates. Two are for a single residential property and two for multiple units of a single type or class, each in a version for metropolitan Melbourne and a version for the rest of the state.
The agent must identify three comparable properties. If three cannot be found, the guidance says the statement lists the one or two that can. What counts as comparable depends on where the property is, as the regulator's separate page on underquoting, also last updated on 1 October 2026, sets out.
Related readDubai off-plan: how escrow accounts and Oqood protect buyers| Location of the property | Sold within | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Melbourne | The last 6 months | Within 2 km |
| Outside metropolitan Melbourne | The last 18 months | Within 5 km |
Consumer Affairs Victoria, underquoting information for real estate agents, last updated 1 October 2026. Comparables must also be similar in standard and condition.
The underquoting rules it builds on
The new duties are added to a framework that is more than nine years old. Victoria's underquoting laws first took effect on 1 May 2017, according to the same Consumer Affairs Victoria page.
Under those rules an agent cannot advertise a property below the estimated selling price, below the seller's asking price or below a written offer the seller has rejected. The estimated selling price may be a single figure or a range, and the range may be no wider than 10 per cent.
The page also sets the deadlines that keep an advertised price current. Online advertising must be updated within one business day if the price changes. The statement must be provided within two business days of a request and shown at open inspections. Offers made before an auction must be passed on to the seller, unless the seller has instructed otherwise in writing.
The stated penalty for non-compliance with the underquoting rules is more than A$50,000, which the page expresses as 240 penalty units. For serious offences, it adds, agents may also lose their commission. That figure belongs to the underquoting page; the page on the new changes says penalties apply to the reserve rule without giving an amount.
How the industry has responded
The reform did not arrive with the industry's support. The news page of the REIV, an industry institute, lists three statements on it from the months before commencement. One dated 27 July 2026 says the institute stood with the Opposition in urging a redraft of the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026, which its title calls impractical. One dated 18 August 2026 calls on the government to pause the auction reform amid confusion over how the new rules would work. One dated 27 August 2026 says the passing of the reforms left the industry with urgent questions about how transactions would work. Two of the three titles describe the reforms as flawed.
Related readNew York's property condition disclosure statement: a seller's guideThe tone from the regulator has been conciliatory. In the alert of 2 October, the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria, Nicole Rich, said: "We know most estate agents want to do the right thing." The alert says the regulator will support the industry to understand and meet the requirements, and that the underquoting taskforce will keep monitoring the property market and the new laws so that breaches are dealt with quickly.
Some agencies are presenting the change as workable. Real Estate Business, a trade publication, reported on 5 October 2026 that one Victorian network was treating the reserve price change as an opportunity. It quoted Andrew McCann, chief executive of Jellis Craig, as saying that buyers can now prepare for an auction with a target and a range in mind, and that the question for them is more one of affordability than of competition.
The auction market itself has carried on. The REIV counted 421 auctions in the week ending 4 October 2026, with a clearance rate of 70 per cent. Those auctions took place before 16 October, so none of them was subject to the seven-day reserve rule. The institute's weekly results after that date will be the first to show how auctions run with a published reserve.
What comes next
The second set of changes is described in the alert as due in mid-to-late 2027. The guidance page gives three separate dates.
- 1 October 2026Most changes begin, including sold price disclosure and the new Property Price Statement.
- 16 October 2026The requirements for auctions and fixed-date sales apply, including the published reserve.
- 1 June 2027New timing rules for making the section 32 vendor statement available.
- 1 July 2027Agents may no longer take commission directly from a deposit released early.
- 1 December 2027Agents must provide sold price information to the Director, unless exempt.
The June 2027 change concerns the section 32 statement, also called the vendor statement. For an auction or a fixed-date sale it must be available at least 14 days before the sale. For a private sale it must be available within 14 days after the property is advertised. Where a property is not advertised, or is to be sold within 14 days of being advertised, it must be available before the purchaser signs.
The July 2027 change is about money held before settlement. The existing process for the early release of a deposit is repealed, and the parties may instead agree to an early release through a condition of the contract. Whatever they agree, an agent must not take commission directly from a deposit released before settlement or before the contract is rescinded.
The December 2027 change turns disclosure into reporting. From that date agents must give sold price information to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria as well as publishing it in the statement, again unless an exemption applies.
Between now and June 2027 the test is a practical one, carried out campaign by campaign from 16 October. Consumer Affairs Victoria has said its underquoting taskforce will be watching how the new laws work in the market.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
