Key takeaways
Victoria plans to increase property price transparency.
New laws will require sold prices and reserve prices to be publicly disclosed, giving buyers clearer information about what homes actually sell for.
The reforms aim to curb underquoting and by allowing buyers to compare price estimates, reserve prices and final sale prices, it will become easier to detect misleading price guides.
The buying process may become fairer and less costly. Sellers will also be required to provide building and pest inspections, reducing duplicated costs for buyers.
For many Australians, Saturday mornings during the property selling season follow a familiar pattern.
Buyers move from open home to open home, then gather outside properties, waiting for the auction to begin: hopeful, nervous, and often optimistic.
But for too many potential buyers, those Saturdays end in frustration.
Not simply because they lost the auction, but because they never really had a chance of buying the property in the first place.
The Victorian Government has now announced a series of reforms aimed at making the property market more transparent and fairer for buyers, particularly by tackling one of the most frustrating issues in the market: underquoting.
At the centre of the proposed changes is a simple idea: greater transparency around property prices.
The problem: a lack of transparency
Currently, in Victoria, there is no strict requirement to publicly disclose final sale prices.
In some cases, it can take months for prices to be released through official channels, such as the Valuer-General Victoria.
In a fast-moving property market, that delay creates a significant information gap.
Buyers struggle to understand what homes are truly worth, sellers may develop unrealistic expectations, and agents are left relying on incomplete comparable sales data.
Note: But perhaps the biggest consequence of this lack of transparency is that it allows underquoting to persist. 
Underquoting occurs when a property is marketed at a price well below what the seller actually expects to achieve.
Buyers then invest time inspecting homes, arranging finance and attending auctions, only to watch the bidding soar far beyond the advertised range.
While underquoting is already illegal in Victoria, it has often been difficult to prove because the full pricing trail of a property, from estimate to reserve to final sale price, is not always clearly visible.
The proposed reforms
The Allan Labor Government now plans to introduce laws requiring the final sale price of residential properties to be publicly disclosed.
At the same time, reserve prices will also need to be published at least seven days before an auction or fixed-date sale.
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If implemented, buyers will be able to see three key figures: the initial price estimate, the vendor-set reserve price, and the final sale price.
The idea behind this is that the additional transparency should improve the accuracy of price guides, encourage more realistic reserves and provide agents with more reliable comparable sales.
Just as importantly, it will make it much easier to identify when underquoting may have occurred.
Making the buying process fairer
Another reform announced alongside these changes is that vendors, not buyers, will be responsible for providing building and pest inspection reports.
Currently many buyers pay for their own inspections, sometimes spending thousands of dollars across multiple properties they ultimately don’t secure.
Shifting this responsibility to sellers could significantly reduce these duplicated costs and make the purchasing process simpler and more affordable.
The Victorian government will now consult with industry to determine details such as the exact timeframe for public disclosure of sale prices, with legislation expected to be introduced to Parliament later this year.
A step toward a more transparent market
In principle, greater transparency is almost always beneficial for property markets.
Real estate markets function best when participants have access to accurate information.
When price data is hidden or delayed, the market becomes less efficient and trust in the system erodes.
Of course, transparency alone won’t eliminate buyer frustration.
Property prices are ultimately driven by supply and demand, and in many parts of Australia, demand continues to exceed the number of homes available.
But giving buyers clearer visibility into how properties are priced and what they actually sell for should make the process fairer.
And if it means fewer Australians wasting their Saturdays chasing homes they never had a realistic chance of buying, that has to be a positive step forward.
