Elite Agent

$420 billion in hidden liabilities. A life sentence. And a warning that echoes all the way to Australia.

Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan has been sentenced to life in prison by a Shenzhen court after pleading guilty to eight charges including large-scale financial fraud.

The numbers are staggering – investigators found revenues overstated by roughly $112 billion across just two years, with apartment sales booked before properties were even built.

More than 50 others were also sentenced, including Hui's sons. The company was fined over $3.3 billion combined.

The human cost sits behind the headline: 1,300 unfinished projects and millions of buyers still paying mortgages on homes that were never completed.

Former RBA economist Martin Eftimoski drew a pointed parallel, telling news.com.au the bubble "really began as a response to the GFC" – and compared the overstimulation to Australia's own HomeBuilder policy.

"Most of the middle class in China stored their wealth in real estate, and when I mean stored their wealth, I mean their whole wealth," Martin said. "Its collapse has crushed their consumer confidence."

The ripple effect reaches here too. Australia's iron ore export earnings are forecast to drop from $116 billion to $107 billion by 2026–27 as China's property sector shifts into what the ABC described as permanent "stable contraction".

How closely are you watching China's property correction for its flow-on effects here?



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She delivered a rebrand across 70 offices in just months – then came back from maternity leave to a role that didn't exist before.

Monika Doyle has been appointed Barry Plant Real Estate 's first-ever Chief of Staff, a position CEO Lisa Pennell created specifically to retain and elevate one of the business's strongest leaders.

Rather than slotting Monika back into her previous Head of Marketing role, Lisa asked a different question: how do we reintegrate a high performer in a way that supports her as a new mum and lifts the business at the same time?

"The creation of the Chief of Staff role was an obvious answer," Lisa said.

Monika brings 20-plus years of experience across marketing, product development and major multinationals. Her Barry Plant rebrand – delivered under serious time pressure – earned silver at both the 2024 Melbourne Design Awards and the 2025 WORLD Design Awards.

Now she's focused on strategy, cross-department alignment and keeping the business connected as it scales.

"I always knew I wanted to come back after maternity leave because I love it here," Monika said.

It's a strong example of what's possible when leadership designs roles around talent rather than org charts.

How is your business rethinking the way high performers return from parental leave?



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Prices are falling. GFC comparisons are flying. But the data tells a different story.

chief economist Nerida Conisbee has modelled what it would actually take for this downturn to match the GFC – and it's a scenario she doesn't expect to play out.

National house values are down 2.0 per cent over the three months to July, yet still 5.7 per cent higher year-on-year.

For the annual decline to reach GFC levels (around 7.9 per cent), prices would need to keep falling at the current monthly rate for another nine months straight – through to April 2027.

"This is not a forecast. It shows how prolonged the current downturn would need to become to produce a fall of that scale," Nerida said.

The picture is also wildly uneven. Sydney and Melbourne are down 3.4 per cent over the past year, while Perth is up 10.2 per cent and Darwin 13.1 per cent.

Open-home attendance has dropped to 2.2 people per property and modelled sales volumes across capital cities are nearly 30 per cent lower than a year ago. Activity has slowed sharply – but this isn't distressed selling.

Meanwhile, building a new house now costs 51 per cent more than at the end of 2019, and completions are tracking well below the Government's 240,000-a-year target.

Nerida outlined three phases ahead: uncertainty keeping buyers sidelined (now), greater rate certainty drawing them back, then actual RBA cuts – with recovery likely starting before that third phase even kicks in.

How are you framing this market for buyers and sellers in your conversations right now?



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A $321,000 median in Carlton.
$480,000 in South Grafton.
But does cheap actually mean investable?

Hotspotting's new research identifies 10 affordable Australian markets – five metro, five regional – that it says have the fundamentals to outperform.

Managing Director Tim Graham calls them the "ugly ducklings" of Australian real estate.

"They may not be the markets people talk about at dinner parties, but the data shows they have the fundamentals to become far more desirable over time, including price growth," Tim said.

His filter: population growth, infrastructure spend, employment, rental demand and rising sales activity – not just a low price tag.

The metro picks span Carlton and Monash units in Melbourne, Gungahlin in the ACT, Glenorchy houses in Hobart and Darwin's high-yield unit market.

Regionally, Ballarat, Muswellbrook, Devonport, the NSW Mid-Coast and Clarence Valley make the cut – each backed by hospital investment, transport upgrades or shifting employment bases.

Tim's caution for buyers: "Even in the right market, you still need the right asset. Established homes and apartments in well-connected precincts consistently outperform generic investor stock or fringe locations with weak fundamentals."

(In other words, the suburb does the heavy lifting – but the property still has to earn its place.)

What's your go-to signal that an affordable market is genuinely worth a closer look?



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Listings up 300%. Sales down more than 20%. And that was the backdrop to an awards night.

Ray White WA celebrated its top performers on Friday – but CEO Mark Whiteman didn't sugarcoat what's ahead.

"The market was strong for most of the year and the strength of our people meant we were able to take advantage of it," Mark told the room. But since Christmas, conditions have shifted sharply.

His message: the solutions customers need now are different from six or 12 months ago.

Among the standouts – Stephen Cole of Ray White Broome took out Top Salesperson for both settled commission and number of sales.

Vivien Yap's Ray White Dalkeith | Claremont claimed Top Office for Settled Commission, with Vivien also named Top Principal for Settled Commission and the network's number four International Principal.

"We have success superpowers because of Ray White," Vivien said – crediting the network and her team in equal measure.

Georgia Higgs from Ray White Port Hedland was named Property Manager of the Year, and Jonathon Borrello of Ray White South Perth took home the John Seddon Rising Star award.

The celebration was real – but so was the call to adapt.

"Our success in the year ahead is in our hands and in our ability and tenacity to rise to and meet this challenge," Mark said.

When market conditions shift fast, what's the first thing you adjust in your business?



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An US$880 million deal – finalised in under four months.

The merger between The Real Brokerage and REMAX Australia Holdings is now complete, creating Real REMAX Group.

But for REMAX Australia, the message from Managing Director Joel Davoren is clear – business as usual.

"REMAX remains REMAX, our independently owned franchises remain the same, and our commitment to identifying systems and services that directly benefit our members will remain the same," Joel said.

The combined entity brings together Real's AI-powered brokerage platform with REMAX's franchise network spanning 120+ countries and 145,000+ agents.

Real REMAX Group co-founder and CEO Tamir Poleg reinforced the commitment to preserving REMAX's brand and independent broker/owner model.

"More than 50 years of brand equity is an incredible asset, and we intend to make it even stronger – not disrupt it," Poleg wrote in a letter to the network.

For the Australian operation, Joel says the local team has always taken an independent, forward-thinking approach – and that won't change under the new structure.

How do you see global consolidation shaping the Australian real estate industry?



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47 phone calls a week – all asking the same five questions.

That was the reality for Brisbane agency owner Russell Peter after 25 years running Pure Real Estate.

He was paying nearly $900 a month for tech that could blast automated links but couldn't answer a simple question like "Is there air con in the bedroom?"

So Russell and marketing operator Milo Holmes cancelled the contracts and spent 18 months building their own solution from scratch – Crayons CRM.

The platform uses AI image analysis on listing photos to detect details like carpet, split systems, and cooktop types – then answers tenant questions 24/7 without agent involvement.

One standout moment: a prospective tenant asked the chatbot if a top-floor apartment was wheelchair accessible. The bot noted no lift was mentioned in an older building, flagged likely stairs, and offered to escalate. No wasted trip. No phone call.

The industry noticed. Crayons CRM won the People's Choice Award at REACH Australia and New Zealand 's Top of the Props pitch night.

"I would love to say it saves you time, but anyone in property management knows there is always another task waiting," Russell says. "What it actually does is adequately answer those questions when you do not want to be dealing with them – like when you are sitting at dinner with your family."

Now expanding nationally and backed by the REACH ANZ accelerator, the platform also auto-cancels inspections when no one RSVPs (a win for regional agents driving hours to no-shows).

What's the one repetitive task in your agency you'd automate first?



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A back garden sold a $1.85 million home.

Not the kitchen. Not the floorplan. The backyard.

Antony Doolin listed 44 Redwood Crescent, Melville – a four-bedroom home on 975 square metres – and designed a campaign that targeted two very different buyer pools: developers eyeing the zoning potential and families drawn to the lifestyle.

Three offers came through across the 70-day campaign.

The buyers who secured it? A family who walked through the home, took in the layout – then stepped into the back garden and made their decision. They wanted space for their kids to run around, room for weekend barbecues, a home they could stay in for 20 years.

The campaign ran through a period of shifting sentiment in Perth, with geopolitical uncertainty and federal budget noise in the background. Antony's pricing advice to the vendors was direct: price to today's market, not six months ago.

"Buyers are responding to well-presented properties that are priced in line with the current market and not the market that was six months ago," Antony said.

The vendors took the feedback on board throughout and could see the final result enabled their next move.

In a suburb where 85 per cent of properties are owner-occupied, the 975-square-metre block stood out against nearby homes sitting on 825-square-metre sites.

Sometimes the biggest selling point isn't inside the house at all.

What's the one property feature you've seen tip a buyer from interested to committed?



https://eliteagent.com/antony-doolin-real-estate-melville-g2892/

30 years in real estate. Still gets on a coaching call every Saturday.

Claudio Encina has trained some of Australia's top agents – and he's never stopped paying for a coach himself. The reason, borrowed from one of his own clients: "I can't see the picture when I'm in the frame."

We distilled 30 of his best lessons. A few that stuck:

"Worry about your drift habits, not your success habits." The success habits don't work until the drift habits stop cancelling them out.

On listing presentations – ditch the polished PDF. Draw the strategy live in front of the client. "When you draw things, it becomes a blueprint and a framework for people."

On fee objections – write both fees on the agreement and let the seller decide at exchange based on your service and result. He calls it the good faith guarantee.

On buyers – roughly 80 per cent of the time, the purchaser was among the first seven people through the property. "They're like buyer warriors."

And the line underneath all 30 lessons: "You may have heard it, but if you ain't doing it, you don't know it."

Which one of these would you pin above your desk?



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