REIA urges the Federal Government to focus on chronic shortage of property managers across Australia.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has today released an action plan for the 47th Parliament ahead of the invitation only Jobs and Skills Summit to be held in Canberra 1 – 2 September 2022.

REIA President, Hayden Groves, said that whilst many sectors will not be included in the scope of the Summit, work on skills development and supporting Australians is a positive step in addressing the labour shortages across the nation. 

“The Jobs and Skills Summit is shaping up to be an invite-only event for the top end of town. 

“Sectors like real estate, particularly in residential property management, are struggling to recruit and staff their offices.

“In a time when rental supply and affordability is affecting many Australians, this is simply being further exacerbated by staff shortages.

“Sufficient numbers of and up-skilling of property managers will be a critical success factor in alleviating the supply of rentals.”

Mr Groves said that real estate was one of the most impacted sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic with vacancies in the sector increasing by more than 80% in 2021.

“Today there are currently over 3,000 property manager roles listed on seek.com.au alone, just under 10 per cent of the national property management workforce.

“Around 2.7 million Australians live in rentals, and it is critical we have an adequate workforce that supports Australia’s tenants and property owners,” he said.

Key action points for the 47th Parliament are:

Whole of industry

• An immediate and evidenced based rapid response skills crisis study be commissioned by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
• The Jobs and Skills Australia body include representation from small businesses and non-unionized workforces
• Partial or full re-instatement of the very successful JobTrainer fund employment support subsidies
• Make all sectors eligible for the Priority Occupation Skilled Occupation list

Housing and rental supply and affordability

• Urgent modelling undertaken showing how the skills crunch across building, construction and property services is impacting rental and housing supply and affordability Australia wide across the pipeline of new builds and existing housing inventory
• Together with REIA, the Federal Government develop a plan to harmonise real estate regulation Australia wide to ensure the highest possible standards that meet national curriculum reform
• Fund a recruitment campaign and bespoke training program to get Australians working in a career in property management

REIA will be hosting an industry roundtable to seek input on the skills crisis that will be open to real estate and property management leaders. Expressions of Interest can be emailed to: reia@reia.com.au