🤝 Your clients aren't yours (and that's the point)

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The case for sharing your clients

"People are not anyone's client." That's Chris Wallace's view, and the director of Acton | Belle Property Albany has built his team on it: buyer follow-ups and vendor updates are shared, so no buyer slips through the cracks. The trick is doing it without clients being passed around or repeating themselves – and it starts with one rule about the database.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The 'it didn't happen' rule: One office-wide database habit that means nobody picking up the phone has to bluff their way through a client's last conversation.
• Let the tech do 95 per cent: The automated enquiry replies, appraisal reminders and listing checklists Chris relies on – and the two meetings that catch what they miss.
• Compete on service, not commission: Why Chris believes a solo agent up against a team with established processes may struggle to show a point of difference beyond cutting commission.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH TRANSFORM

Transform, our 30-day AI challenge, is into its final week. Here's what participants have been saying to each other.

• “I actually love doing my vendor reports now, I used to dread them.” – a sales agent in New Zealand
• “This exercise makes me feel like AI knows me better than I know myself and knows how to put my strengths into words!” – a property manager in New Zealand
• “I love the idea of AI asking questions to draw out my thinking and experience on a topic and finding a way for that to be communicated. I am actually excited to see where this goes.” – a director in Victoria

Registrations for this round are closed. Put your name down and we'll email you when the next one opens.

Join the waitlist →

DEPT OF LENDING

Mortgage repayments now eat half of family income

Here's the figure behind all those longer days on market: Australian families now need 50.9% of their income to cover repayments, a peak on PRD's measure. The relief (yes, there's some) is that arrears are still under 1.5%, so stretched doesn't mean distressed. PRD's Diaswati Mardiasmo calls it a period of adjustment, where suburbs won't all move the same way.

DEPT OF POLICY

Clare O'Neil says price growth needs to slow

House prices just fell in every capital at once, a first in 15 years, according to Domain, and Housing Minister Clare O'Neil says slower growth is exactly what's needed. Her big picture is 400% growth over a generation, which she says has shut younger Australians out. The fix, she says, is more homes, and she admits there's plenty of work still to do.

DEPT OF BUILDING

Data centre category tops commercial building starts

Six years ago, the building category that includes data centres sat near the bottom of the commercial rankings. Now it's number one for new projects breaking ground, with $18.3 billion of work still to finish. NSW and Victoria did about 91 per cent of last financial year's work in the category. Sites with high-capacity power connections are the ones to watch.

HOW IT SOLD

Staging that won over a newly arrived family

In a Sunshine Coast suburb where waterside homes typically command attention, Peter Cox of Amber Werchon gave non-waterfront 20 Bangalow Street, Minyama, professional staging and aerial drone photography. His private treaty campaign drew several interested parties, and Peter negotiated the highest price from a surgeon and his partner – new parents who had recently migrated to Australia.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

AI cannot cite content that was never written. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Ipswich agency helps raise extra $20,000 for Domestic Violence Action Centre

The Domestic Violence Action Centre marked 30 years with a hand from Ipswich. Century 21 Josie Smith & Co was a major sponsor, and director Josie Smith shared her story as a former DVAC client, helping raise what she estimates is at least another $20,000. Her agency also committed free property management to Homes for Hope, the transitional housing project driven by DVAC CEO Amy Carrington's team.

Harcourts unites Australia and NZ for joint auction event Harcourts Australia and Harcourts New Zealand will run their first joint auction campaign, Your Day, with participating offices in both countries working to a shared timeline from 25 January to 7 February 2027. Harcourts Australia CEO Adrian Knowles says it gives offices a common focus to start the year, with $100 from every eligible Australian sale going to Orange Sky.

LongView Real Estate wins REIV's top agency award Record entries and a 90th anniversary – the REIV Awards for Excellence had plenty to celebrate in 2026. LongView Real Estate took out Large Residential Agency of the Year on 22 October, topping finalists including Jellis Craig Eastern Group and Woodards Manningham. Most winners progress to the REIA National Awards on the Gold Coast in June 2027.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

Seen an Agent On Social we should include? Let us know here

TRUE OR FALSE:

The Sydney suburb of Ultimo is named after a mistake in some court papers.

And the answer is …

It's true! (At least, that's our read of the history.) In 1803, Sydney had two camps that didn't get along: the governor, and the army officers who were meant to answer to him. Surgeon John Harris sided with the governor, and even prosecuted some of those officers in court for him. The officers' commander, Major George Johnston, hit back. In the middle of one trial, he had Harris arrested for leaking the judges' votes to witnesses "on Saturday last, the 19th ultimo". In old legal-speak, "ultimo" meant last month. But the Saturday in question was the 19th of February, the same month the charge was written. Johnston had accidentally put the crime in January. The charge never stuck. That December, the governor thanked his one loyal officer with 34 acres, and Harris named his new estate after Johnston's slip-up: Ultimo. Petty? A little. But the suburb still carries the name. via St John's Online.