Insights from Toby Balage, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria
The headlines about Victoria’s property market tend to focus on interest rates, clearance rates, and median prices. But behind those numbers lies a more complex story, one shaped by legislation, regulatory reform, and the ongoing push and pull between government policy and market reality.
In a recent episode of the Property Straight Up podcast, host Mel sat down with Toby Balage, the newly appointed CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV), to unpack the structural and legislative forces reshaping property in Victoria. With an election year looming, the conversation couldn’t be more timely.
Who Is Toby Balage?
Toby brings over 20 years of property industry experience to his role as REIV CEO, though his path was a little different from most. Rather than coming up through real estate agencies, he spent more than 13 years at realestate.com.au working primarily with developers and project marketers, before leading Real Estate View (which became View Media Group). It’s a proptech-heavy background that gives him a broad, cross-sector lens on an industry he now represents at the highest level.
Just six months into the role, Toby is clear about his priorities: advocacy, compliance, education, and ensuring Victoria remains an attractive destination for property investment.
The Investor Exodus: A Warning Signal
One of the most urgent issues Toby raised is the quiet but significant departure of property investors from Victoria’s rental market.
The REIV commissioned independent research that found a majority of property investors said that, under current tax and regulatory settings, they would seriously consider selling their portfolio, downsizing, or investing interstate. And it’s not just a finding on paper, vendors’ advocates on the ground are seeing it play out in real time, with investors listing and selling in numbers not seen before.
The concern is straightforward economics: less supply in a growing population means tighter vacancy rates and higher rents. Victoria’s population is growing, that’s a good thing, but if private rental providers are being driven out of the market by regulatory burden and an unfavourable tax environment, there simply won’t be enough rental stock to meet demand.
The REIV’s message to government is clear: Victoria needs to be a compelling destination for property investment capital, not a hostile one.
130+ New Regulations in Four Years: The Property Manager’s Dilemma
If investors are feeling the pinch, property managers are at the coalface of it.
Over the past four years, more than 130 new regulations have been introduced through Victoria’s Residential Tenancy Act. That’s an extraordinary rate of change for any profession to absorb, and property managers have been left scrambling to stay compliant while simultaneously managing landlords who are frustrated, tenants who are under pressure, and a market that’s as tight as it’s ever been.
To their credit, REIV training sessions on RTA compliance consistently draw full rooms, property managers are genuinely committed to doing things right. But the pace of change is unsustainable, and the REIV is calling on government to pause further significant regulatory changes to give the industry time to catch up.
As Toby put it: the intent behind most of these changes, making properties safer and more liveable, is sound. But good intent doesn’t mean good execution, especially when the implementation timeline leaves no room for the industry to adapt.
The REIV Blueprint: A Framework for a Better Property Market
Before the current government announced its proposed auction rule changes, the REIV had been quietly working on something bigger: a comprehensive Blueprint for a Better Functioning Property Market.
Developed through a strategic working group that included CEOs of major Victorian agencies (Jellis Craig, Woodards, Barry Plant), key auctioneers, buyers’ advocates, and regional operators, the Blueprint puts forward a set of recommendations designed to make Victoria’s property market more transparent, more equitable, and more functional.
You can download the Blueprint at reiv.com.au.
Key recommendations include:
- Private Sale Pricing: One Price, Not a Range
For private treaty sales, the REIV recommends a single asking price, the vendor’s preferred price, rather than a price range. It’s cleaner, more transparent, and easier for buyers to assess.
- Auction Reserve Transparency (Without Over-Exposing Vendors)
This is perhaps the most contentious issue in the Blueprint, and it directly conflicts with the government’s recent proposal.
The government wants vendors to declare their exact reserve price seven days before auction. The REIV’s counter-proposal is more nuanced: three days out, the vendor simply confirms to their agent that their reserve exists within the advertised price range (within a 10% band). Buyers know the property will be called on the market within that range; vendors retain the flexibility they need on auction day.
Why does this matter? Because forcing vendors to declare a specific reserve creates perverse incentives, vendors will likely set higher reserves to protect themselves, or shift to other sale methods altogether. Auctions are the most transparent form of property sale. Policy that discourages their use is counterproductive.
There’s also the financial reality for vendors: going to auction can cost $30,000 or more in preparation costs before a single bid is placed. Asking vendors to lock in a reserve price weeks out, when market conditions and buyer appetite are still being gauged, is asking them to take on significant risk with their largest asset.
- Mandatory Vendor-Paid Building & Pest Inspections
One of the Blueprint’s more forward-thinking recommendations is requiring vendors to commission and pay for a building and pest inspection before listing their property. This inspection would then be transferred to the buyer at settlement.
The rationale is simple: buyers are currently spending money on inspections for properties they ultimately don’t, and sometimes can’t, buy. Under the current system, the same property can trigger multiple paid inspections from competing buyers, all of whom walk away empty-handed when the property sells well above range.
There are legitimate questions about whether buyers will fully trust a vendor-commissioned report (the short answer: they don’t have to, nothing stops a buyer from commissioning their own). And there are implementation challenges around pricing and quality control. But the REIV believes these can be managed through staged implementation, close collaboration with government, and the competitive dynamics of a market with multiple inspection providers. It’s already mandatory in the ACT, which offers a useful case study.
Education, CPD, and Raising Industry Standards
The REIV recently made the decision to exit its Registered Training Organisation (RTO) function, stepping back from delivering the Certificate IV and Diploma that serve as entry qualifications for the industry, to focus on something arguably more impactful: in-career professional development.
The thinking is that once agents are in the industry, the real need is for ongoing, relevant, compliance-focused training. The REIV is well-placed to deliver this, with strong connections to Consumer Affairs Victoria, VCAT, and the Business Licensing Authority (BLA).
This shift aligns with another upcoming change: mandatory CPD (Continuing Professional Development) requirements are set to be introduced across the Victorian real estate industry, requiring five CPD points per year (two mandatory units and three electives). The REIV, as a peak body with deep industry knowledge, is positioning itself to be a leading provider, though it won’t be the only one.
The AML Challenge: July 1 Is Coming Fast
One issue Toby flagged as a major near-term challenge is the introduction of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Tranche 2 provisions, coming into effect on 1 July.
Real estate has long been identified internationally as a sector vulnerable to money laundering, and the new requirements will bring Australian property agents in line with obligations already carried by lawyers, accountants, and financial services firms. It’s a significant compliance lift, particularly for smaller agencies.
Toby’s advice: visit the AUSTRAC website, work through the starter kits, and consider the range of technology solutions now available to help agents meet their obligations. The REIV has also hosted an AML summit and is working to support members through the transition.
Victoria’s Market Outlook: Reasons for Cautious Optimism
Despite the regulatory headwinds, there are grounds for optimism. Interestingly, the investor exodus from Victorian landlords is being partly offset by interstate buyers — particularly from Sydney, who are eyeing Melbourne’s comparatively lower capital values as a long-term buying opportunity.
The underlying fundamentals remain compelling: Victoria has a growing population, Melbourne is a world-class city, and the gap between Melbourne and Sydney property prices is arguably the widest it’s been in decades. Capital growth, for patient investors, should follow.
The challenge is making the environment attractive enough in the short term, through sensible regulation, adequate incentives, and a predictable policy framework, to keep rental supply healthy while that long-term capital story plays out.
The Bottom Line
Victoria’s property market isn’t just shaped by supply and demand, it’s shaped by the policy environment within which buyers, sellers, investors, and agents operate. The REIV, under Toby Balage’s leadership, is working to ensure that policy environment is fair, transparent, and functional.
Whether you’re a first home buyer frustrated by auction underquoting, a landlord weighing up whether to stay in the market, or a property manager trying to keep pace with regulatory change, the recommendations in the REIV Blueprint are worth reading. They represent a genuine attempt by the industry to self-regulate, improve standards, and restore confidence in one of Australia’s most important asset classes.
This article is based on the Property, Straight Up podcast episode “The Bigger Picture: Policy & Regulation in Victoria’s Property Market,” featuring REIV CEO Toby Balage.
