The REIA National Property Managers Roundtable (the Roundtable) was held successfully in Sydney with leaders dialing in from around the country on Wednesday 1 November 2023.

The Roundtable looked at the big ideas that will shape the property management sector in 2024 including inflation, interest rates, workforce retention, migration, anticipatory experience for renters and investors, the four-day work week and flexible working, end of generation technology and regulation and policy settings.

Key outcomes of the Roundtable include:

• Investment: The need to promote property investment as a point of difference to emerging investor groups – like first time investors and “rentvestors” – as well as single investment property owners. 

This included the development of concrete policy recommendations for the Federal Government in relation to taxation, lending buffers, foreign investment, and the need to remove ping-pong regulatory threats from political and media cycle.

• People: Making property management an attractive profession and utilizing every avenue to achieve this was discussed from education, migration and better Federal support for apprenticeships and training and migration.
• Health & Wellbeing: The need to remove stress from staff by removing pain points from the rental transaction through cohesive community-government partnerships; and the need to provide better on the job support for mental health were core conversation points.
• Innovation: The need to educate both business leaders and teams as old technology is phased out and technology stacks become more sophisticated was canvassed and discussed, with especial reference to ongoing reforms by the Federal Government like privacy, cybersecurity and anti-money laundering.

Commitment to action: All attendees agreed there was a need for an industry commitment to action over talk to better service renters, investors and property management teams. There was an overwhelming focus on positivity, proactivity approaches and ongoing education for all stakeholders in the rental transaction.

The Roundtable Co-Chairs were REIA President, Mr Hayden Groves, and REIA Director, Ms Hannah Gil.

“To have so many leaders of property management businesses across the nation gathered in one place for the core purpose of identifying and working through our sectors’ major challenges is an Australian first.”

“This is the work of the REIA in action, uncovering tangible, industry-led solutions at a time where governments and other stakeholders are prone to making ill-informed decisions based on media commentary and political grandstanding.”

REIA President Hayden Groves

"With rents continuing to increase and vacancy rates very low in many cities, there is a need to work across Australia and share best practises as a sector. Solving the rental riddle will require the will and collaboration of many to help renters and no one understands the challenges or is best placed to drive change than Australia's property management leaders. This is just a start." 

REIA Director Hannah Gil

“The Roundtable brought together an initial group of property management leaders, experts and partners to examine big picture ideas and is a direct deliverable of the REI endorsed REIA 2025 strategy.”

Further consultation will occur and any members of the industry that are interested contact REIA below to be involved.