BeforeTheWeekend

Episode 12 · Before the Weekend · 83 min

Allan Resigns, the REIV Breaks Ranks and Deposit Flicking

Victoria changed premiers this week after months of questions over debt, infrastructure, crime and integrity. On the same day as the second reading of the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026, the REIV took what it called an unprecedented step and stood alongside the Opposition to demand the Bill be substantially redrafted. Consumer Affairs Victoria forced changes to one of the country's biggest rental application platforms, and a Melbourne band managed to pin almost every part of the housing crisis on real estate agents, landlords and property investors. Peter Schravemade and Kasey McDonald also work through allegations of development land being flipped to associates in Melbourne's growth corridors, a seven-figure defamation judgment between competing Sydney agents, a Double Bay agency that collapsed while suing a former employee who has since died, and a NSW Supreme Court fight over what critics are calling deposit flicking. Then there is Dashdot. Two months after a collapse that left hundreds of customers and employees owed millions, its founders are back offering business coaching. The episode closes on the RBA's warning that housing has weakened more than expected, Queensland's claim of a record 50,000 homes under construction, the review of 46,210 Queensland social housing tenancies, Australia's 13 million spare bedrooms, and new Suburbtrends research showing the average number one agency captures under a fifth of its local commission pool. The through line is accountability. Misconduct should be exposed and agents should be accountable for the services they provide, but agents do not set migration levels, zoning, land release, construction costs or infrastructure delivery. You cannot fine your way out of a housing shortage.