The $28,500 cost of a good agent walking out the door.

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The $28,500 question agencies keep getting wrong

Every time a good agent walks out the door, it costs your agency roughly $28,500 once you factor in recruitment, onboarding and lost productivity, according to the Australian HR Institute. Most agencies still pour their energy into recruitment while treating retention as an afterthought. Olivia Chammas, Director of Talent at Urban Real Estate, says the conversations you have long before someone resigns matter more than any bonus structure – and there's a simple exercise you can run this month to find out exactly where your team is at risk.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The stay interview: one direct question to ask your top three performers this month that reveals exactly what would make them leave.
• The retention myth: why salary isn't the top reason your best people quit, and what AHRI's data says agencies should focus on instead.
• The pre-resignation window: the specific check-ins Olivia's team runs before workload or career frustration ever reaches breaking point.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH THE 'A HOME FOR ALL FOUNDATION'

A Night Without Home returns with $1 million goal

A Night Without Home is back for round two, and this time the property industry's aiming even higher than the $1 million it raised last year.

The idea's simple: couch surf, sleep in the car, or just fundraise, on 8 October or anytime through the month, with every dollar going toward people escaping domestic and family violence.

Christine Mikhael, LJ Hooker's CEO and Chair of the Foundation's Advisory Committee, put it well: "We are in the business of finding people homes, and everyone deserves a safe and secure place to sleep at night."

Sign up at anightwithouthome.com.au.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DATA

Sydney and Melbourne slide as Adelaide hits a record

Three years of steady growth just stalled in a single quarter. Sydney house prices dropped 3.3% to $1.73 million, its weakest run since 2022, while Adelaide jumped 4.8% to a record $1.125 million, overtaking Melbourne as the fourth priciest capital. Dr Nicola Powell's verdict: Australia's no longer moving as one market.

DEPT OF FINANCE

First home buyers fill the gap investors left

Investor auction buying is clawing back, but not because investors are rushing back in. Nerida Conisbee's data shows their share slipped to 20.7 per cent post-Budget before recovering to 23.2 per cent – still well under last year's 29 per cent. Meanwhile Thomas McGlynn notes first home buyers now make up 46.5 per cent of Ray White's auction pool, up from 40.6 per cent, as investors sit on the sidelines.

DEPT OF M+A

Segro turns down third Prologis takeover offer

Third time's not the charm – UK industrial landlord Segro has knocked back another Prologis offer, this one valuing the company at roughly $18.2 billion. Prologis, the world's largest owner of industrial real estate, has now been rejected twice in a matter of weeks. Segro hasn't shut the door on a better offer, so watch this space.

HOW IT SOLD

58 registered buyers, four bidders, $998,100 result

Twice-weekly calls, emails and texts kept buyers engaged through the four-week campaign for this original-condition Wantirna corner block. Geraint Gardner gave renovation cost estimates and confirmed each bidder's settlement position before auction day, turning registrants into four active bidders and a $998,100 result.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Stories like this build your online reputation long after the sold sticker comes down. Want yours told? getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jay Papasan steps down as Keller Williams executive after 26 years

If your coach has ever asked you "what's the ONE thing?", thank Jay Papasan. The co-author of the bestselling productivity book is stepping down as Keller Williams' vice president of strategic content from August 1, after 26 years that took him from writing the company's tech newsletter to leading its research, publishing and marketing divisions. He'll keep hosting The ONE Thing podcast, running its coaching team and working alongside his family's Papasan Properties Group in Austin.

Sam Thompson joins Ray White Northern Beaches Bayview and Church Point sellers now get their local specialist with a bigger network behind him. Sam Thompson has joined Ray White Northern Beaches, working from the Mona Vale office, staying exclusively focused on the Pittwater enclave he's known for – tailored campaigns built property by property rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Director David Walker says the fit reflects the office's growing footprint across the Peninsula.

BresicWhitney named Sydney Contemporary's first real estate partner A decade of Sydney Contemporary is here, and BresicWhitney has traded its ambassador badge for a bigger role: the fair's first-ever Real Estate Partner. It follows years of the agency backing the city's creative community, and now stretches to branding, hospitality, ticketing and content across the event's tenth edition at Carriageworks. The fair runs from 3–6 September 2026, presented alongside MA Financial Group.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

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TRUE OR FALSE:

In the Channel Islands, some property owners still owe feudal 'seigneurial rents' to local lords – a relic of Norman law that has never been formally abolished.

And the answer is …

True. The Channel Islands are the last remnants of the Duchy of Normandy still held by the English Crown, and their feudal land tenure system has survived into the modern era. Some property holders on islands like Sark and Jersey remain technically liable for seigneurial dues – including rents, tithes, and even the obligation to provide a chicken – owed to the local seigneur. Feudal titles attached to these fiefs can still be bought and sold on the open market. Makes your quarterly strata levies feel almost reasonable. via Jerripedia.