Christies Beach According to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), working in real estate is a profession of choice for many Australians.
Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) President, Mr Peter Bushby says, “ABS figures show that in 2006, there were 56,500 real estate agents and in 2011 that number had risen to 64,698 – an increase of 9%.”
“Although the market has been flat for the past few years, the numbers of agents on the ground has remained healthy.”
“What we don’t want to see is lowering of standards within the real estate profession. Under COAG’s proposed national licensing model, entry level and agent licensing levels will drop in the majority of states and territories, resulting in increased consumer risk,” warned Mr Bushby.
“Under the national licensing proposal released by the COAG Taskforce in August, commercial and rural real estate will be deregulated meaning unqualified people will be able to assist consumers in these transactions (in many cases, one of the largest transactions they will make in a lifetime),” added Mr Bushby.
“Also, under the current national licensing model, ongoing professional development will not be a requirement for licensing, resulting in many practitioners not participating in legislative updates which are pertinent to their area of real estate practice.”
“Real estate employs a lot of Australians. You’ll find them in every town, every community and consumers deserve to have faith in the qualifications and professionalism of their agents,” concluded Mr Bushby.
The figures also show that the number of actively trading businesses in Australia (of which 96% are classified as small) increased by 0.4 per cent between the 2010-11 and 2011-12 financial years, with 2,141,280 actively trading businesses in Australia at June 2012.
The Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services make up 10.5% of the total.
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