A better price guide is still not a valuation
NSW is strengthening its underquoting laws, but the reforms are arriving in two distinct stages.
Some changes began on 29 June 2026. They increased penalties for several offences and strengthened NSW Fair Trading’s enforcement and disciplinary powers.
The changes buyers are more likely to notice during a campaign have not started yet. NSW Fair Trading says they are expected toward the end of 2026, on a date still to be announced.
Once that second stage begins, agents will generally need to include a selling price or price range in residential property advertisements. Online advertising will also need to include a Statement of Information, or a link to it, and the statement will need to be available at inspections.
That should improve transparency. It should make the advertised number easier to compare with the evidence used to support it.
It does not make the guide a valuation.
The guide and the buyer answer different questions
A selling agent’s estimate is part of a campaign. It reflects the agent’s assessment of likely selling price and must be supported by evidence, but it can change as the campaign develops.
A buyer is answering a different question:
What is this property worth to me, given the available alternatives and the risks I would be accepting?
The two numbers may overlap. They do not have to.
The guide is useful evidence because it tells you how the campaign is being positioned. A Statement of Information should provide more context for that position. Neither replaces independent analysis.
Start with comparable sales
The strongest starting point is a small set of genuinely comparable sales.
“Comparable” means more than the same suburb and bedroom count. Adjust for:
- land size, shape and usability
• street position, noise and outlook • building condition and the cost of necessary work • floor plan and accommodation • parking, access and orientation • easements, heritage controls or other constraints • school catchments and the side of a boundary the property sits on
Those differences often matter more than the headline guide.
The aim is not to produce a perfectly precise valuation. Property does not offer that level of certainty. The aim is to establish a defensible range before the campaign creates emotional pressure.
Separate new evidence from campaign pressure
When a guide changes, find out what changed with it.
A revised guide may reflect a new comparable sale, a defect discovered during due diligence, weaker competition, revised vendor expectations or feedback from the first weeks of the campaign.
These possibilities do not mean the same thing.
If the asset has weakened, a lower guide may simply recognise a risk that was previously missed. If the asset is unchanged and the number of serious buyers has fallen, the same revision may create negotiating leverage.
The discount itself is not the answer. The reason for it matters.
Decide before the decisive moment
Set three numbers before an auction or final negotiation:
- 1.A value range supported by the evidence.
- 2.A maximum price that reflects the property’s strengths and compromises.
- 3.A walk-away point you are prepared to honour.
Your maximum price will not predict the winning bid. It is not supposed to.
Its purpose is to stop the campaign making the decision for you.
What the reforms change
Better disclosure should help buyers interrogate the guide and the evidence behind it. Stronger enforcement should improve the consequences for non-compliance.
The limit is equally important. Regulation can improve the quality of information without removing uncertainty from the transaction.
The next buyer may pay more than the evidence appears to support. The vendor may refuse a reasonable offer. A property with scarce attributes may sit outside a neat comparable-sales range.
That is why the practical rule remains useful under both the current and coming regimes:
Use the guide as evidence, not the answer.
Source note: NSW Fair Trading, “Changes to property and stock agents laws”, published 8 July 2026, and “Price estimation and underquoting when selling a property”, updated 8 July 2026. Checked 30 July 2026.
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