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Before the Weekend

Rents Hit the Ceiling and PropertyMe Opens Its Data

EP. 22 · 9 Oct 2026 · 54m

This week on Before the Weekend, Kasey McDonald and Peter Schravemade work through a week where the rental market finally said what Tim Lawless told them in March: tenants have no elasticity left.

First, the Domain September quarter rent report. Capital-city house rents were flat at $700 a week despite a 1 per cent vacancy rate, Sydney and Canberra recorded their first quarterly falls in two years, and the Gold Coast is the most expensive city in the country for houses at $920 a week. Peter does the minimum-wage arithmetic - $26.44 an hour, about $1,000 a week, $920 to rent - and Kasey's message to property managers is to get to street-level data, present the facts to landlords, and think about who stays housed rather than who pays the most.

Then PropertyMe. The platform 6,500 agencies run on has released an external MCP server, AiMe Connect, so users on the Advanced tier and above can ask Claude or ChatGPT questions of their live portfolio data. Peter explains what a Model Context Protocol server actually is, why he calls it the new gold standard for proptech, why "we've got one but haven't released it" doesn't count, and what to ask any vendor who claims to have AI. Kasey walks through what it changes for a property manager's Monday.

Then Victoria's next tranche of rental law, starting Monday 13 October: evidence and advance notice for every bond claim, records proving minimum standards on request from Consumer Affairs, gas and electrical checks extended to tenancies that began before March 2021, and a ban on application and rent-tech fees. Kasey has the list; Peter's ask of every state is the same - talk to the industry first. From there to New South Wales, where minimum energy-efficiency rental standards are under consideration and a Renew report puts the landlord's cost at $15,000 to $34,000 a property.

LJ Hooker has become the exclusive distributor of OHOME, a factory-built two-bedroom backyard dwelling at around $250,000 installed, assessed online against the owner's lot. Neither host can recall a franchise doing anything like it. Both think it's smart.

On the Gold Coast, a six-bedroom Mermaid Waters house that is 80 per cent built has gone to market as a mortgagee-in-possession sale, with APRA data showing interest-only loans at 23.5 per cent of new lending, the highest since 2019. And a Main Beach agency principal has pleaded guilty to two domestic-violence offences and been fined $3,500 with no conviction recorded - which, as Peter points out, is the detail that keeps his Queensland licence.

Then Kasey's favourite television program. The Victorian government has confirmed it sold the heritage-listed Sunbury asylum site to The Block for $1 million, with no public campaign, on a Valuer-General-certified valuation. Peter doesn't accept it and says so.

Also this week: congratulations to Rob Mandanici, the new president of REIWA, and thanks to outgoing president Suzanne Brown for her service; and an Irvine, California agent arrested at LAX, alleged to have been acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

Before the Weekend is a weekly podcast for Australian property professionals, hosted by Kasey McDonald and Peter Schravemade. New episodes every Friday.

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Rents hit the ceiling

Domain's September quarter rent report has combined-capital house rents flat at $700 a week (up 7.7 per cent over the year), units up 1.5 per cent to a record $690, Sydney down $5 and Canberra down $10 for houses, and Domain's national vacancy rate at 1 per cent. Nicola Powell calls it a disconnect between vacancy and rent growth; Cameron Kusher says renters are trading down to cheaper suburbs. The Gold Coast is the most expensive house-rent market in the country at $920 a week, down from $950.

PropertyMe opens the data

PropertyMe's AiMe Connect, available from 8 October to customers on the Manage PM Advanced tier and above, connects an agency's own Claude or ChatGPT account to its live PropertyMe data through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. The first release is read-only and respects existing PropertyMe permissions; an agentic release is "coming next". PropertyMe manages close to two million properties for 6,500 agencies.

Victoria: what changes on Monday 13 October

Landlords and agents claiming on a bond at Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria must give the renter advance notice and provide evidence such as photos and quotes, and can be fined for a claim without evidence or one that conflicts with the condition report. Records proving minimum standards at advertising, offer and occupancy must be kept and produced to Consumer Affairs Victoria on request. Gas and electrical safety checks every two years now apply to every agreement, including those that began before 29 March 2021. Charging fees to apply, for failed rent payments or for background, credit and identity checks becomes an offence, and the ban extends to rent-tech providers. Minimum energy efficiency standards phase in from 1 March 2027.

NSW: energy efficiency as a rental standard

NSW consulted on minimum energy efficiency rental standards in April and May 2026 and has not announced a decision. Renew's Fit to Rent modelling on a 1970s brick house puts the minimum package at about $15,000, moderate at about $26,000 and excellent at just under $34,000, with renters' bills cut by two-thirds to three-quarters. Energy Consumers Australia says 68 per cent of NSW renters avoid heating or cooling to save money. Victoria has legislated its standard from 1 March 2027; the ACT has had an insulation standard since 2023. Reported by realestate.com.au on 6 October.

LJ Hooker and OHOME

LJ Hooker is the exclusive distributor of OHOME, a factory-built two-bedroom, 60 square metre secondary dwelling at around $250,000 including furniture and appliances, delivered and installed, with occupancy in under 150 days subject to planning. The oho.me platform assesses an owner's lot for zoning, size and access. Rollout starts in Sydney across the network's 390 offices. L. Janusz Hooker chairs both LJ Hooker and OHOME. Agent remuneration is not stated.

Mermaid Waters: 80 per cent built, back to the bank

A six-bedroom, four-bathroom house at 207 Sunshine Boulevard, Mermaid Waters is for sale as a mortgagee-in-possession, 80 per cent complete, through LJ Hooker Broadbeach. The land sold for $1,241,500 in May 2022 with a build approval in January 2023. Ray White's Nerida Conisbee says APRA data has interest-only loans at 23.5 per cent of new housing lending, the highest since 2019, but no widespread forced selling yet. Reported by realestate.com.au on 5 October.

The Block's $1 million asylum

The Victorian government confirmed the 2.612 hectare Jacksons Hill (Caloola) site at Sunbury, with three buildings on the Victorian Heritage Register, sold to Nine for $1 million on 11 September for The Block 2027. The Department of Transport and Planning says it was sold at market value set by independent valuers and certified by the Valuer-General, with no local median considered because of the heritage restoration required. No public campaign was reported. Mark Wizel of Advise Transact says the absence of a campaign "invites questions"; local agent Melinda Xiberras expects the finished homes to top $2 million each.

A Main Beach principal sentenced

The principal of a Main Beach agency pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court on 30 September to assault occasioning bodily harm and deprivation of liberty, both as domestic violence offences, over an incident in April. He was fined $3,500 with no conviction recorded. Reported by the Gold Coast Bulletin on 5 October. Queensland's Property Occupations Act makes a person unsuitable to hold a licence if convicted of a serious offence within five years; whether an unrecorded conviction engages that test is the question the hosts leave open. If this story affects you, 1800RESPECT is 1800 737 732, 24 hours.

Quick hits

Rob Mandanici is the new president of REIWA, elected after Suzanne Brown's two-year term ended on 7 October; Peta McKenzie is Deputy President. Wanying "Heather" Zhang, an Irvine, California agent, was arrested at LAX on 4 October and charged with acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government; the allegations are untested. Tim Lawless's March comment on tenant elasticity was in Episode 3.

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EP. 21

Before the Weekend

eXp Calls Back, Surcharges, NSW Legislation

2 Oct 2026 · 1h 4m

This week on Before the Weekend, Kasey McDonald and Peter Schravemade start with a correction. Last week we ran the eXp Australia story as unconfirmed. This week Mindy Powell-Hodges, Country Leader of eXp Australia, called: the sales representative and Class 2 pathway has been discontinued because of regulatory change, and very few agents are affected - which matches Peter's own calls to eXp agents. The bigger story is in eXp's own press release, where the fine print describes a transition to a fully licensed Class 1 model. The open-door recruiting that built the US model no longer exists here. NSW has passed the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Protection of Personal Information) Bill. From early 2027 every agent uses a standardised application form, cannot ask for photos, social media, children's details or tattoos, collects ID only from the preferred applicant, and must disclose digitally altered or AI-generated listing images that hide faults. Penalties run to $49,500. Peter's view from a decade in property imagery: most of what hits the portals today falls on the wrong side of that wording. The Government's own example of an "AI-doctored" listing turned out to be a $5,000 mural. Then the receipt. REINSW CEO Tim McKibbin's internal master table counts 33 Acts and regulations - around 2,100 individual amendments, 209 carrying penalties - landing on NSW agents between October 2024 and early 2027, each written up as a psychosocial risk for the people doing the work. Aaron Barber's "500 changes" was conservative. Kasey reports from the road on what that load looks like on a PM desk. Money moving: the card surcharge ban is live from 1 October, DEFT has stopped taking cards for 1.2 million rent payments a month, Services Australia still clips 99 cents on every Centrepay rent payment NSW made compulsory, and a "Supplier Trade Fee" has appeared on realestate.com.au invoices - a real Amex arrangement, but one to watch. Also this week: a Mareeba couple with good income and references rejected 15 times at 0.8 per cent vacancy in Cairns; a Sunshine Coast principal convicted after threatening to end an employee's career and a Gold Coast agent off the road; the Newcastle family who can't get their lodgers out, and why renting rooms in your own home sits outside the tenancy Act; agents sliding into DMs on Threads; and the NRL grand final.

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EP. 20

Before the Weekend

eXp Australia, One Third of Nothing and 90 Seconds Outside the Car

25 Sept 2026 · 1h 10m

This week on Before the Weekend, Kasey McDonald and Peter Schravemade work through a week where the claims did not survive contact with the people who actually do the job. First, eXp Australia. Three social media posts, no press release and no mainstream coverage, but agents inside the business confirm it: the Class 2 and sales representative pathway is being terminated. Independent contractors with their own licence and entity are unaffected. The recruiters who built teams on the promise of passive income are not. Peter has written to eXp Australia director Chris Janzon for a response and will bring him on if he answers. Then the $593 million black hole. realestate.com.au says negatively geared Queensland landlords are heading for a mass sell-off before the negative gearing and capital gains changes land. Peter is not convinced the number holds - the PIPA figure of 35.5 per cent of Queensland investors selling in the last 12 months predates the tax change entirely - but the instruction to principals is the same either way: audit the rent roll for the owners who are negatively geared, and get in front of them before they list. Then the article Peter filed under T for trash. RentBetter founder Jeremy Goldschmidt told the Sydney Morning Herald that one third of Australia's 2.2 million rentals are now leased without an agent. The Queensland RTA, which holds every bond in the state, says 89 per cent of rentals are professionally managed. NSW is 93 per cent. And 83.1 per cent of RTA infringement notices last quarter went to private lessors, against about 15 per cent for agents. Kasey adds the story of a 22-year-old on a private landlord's lease that contradicted the Act. "Completely fabricated, not true, not even in the vicinity." Then Consumer Affairs Victoria fines one agency and drags two more to court over late bonds, and former REIV president Adam Docking is punched four or five times and robbed putting out an open-for-inspection sign in Vermont at midday on a Saturday. His warning to every agent and property manager: never leave the keys in the car. Paul Tommasini of the Tenancy Skills Institute joins to explain why the property manager is the first responder in the homelessness system: property managers say about 50 per cent of failed tenancies could have been saved with simple interventions, the Brisbane and Mackay pilots pushed that above 90 per cent, and PM Assist turns a referral into a two-minute job - because every day a tenancy drifts costs another hundred dollars nobody gets back. Also this week: rates go up Tuesday and David Koch blames Canberra, nearly half of Australians in share houses are over 40, the Victorian auction rules start next week without the paperwork, and Jellis Craig's Andrew McCann calls it the worst market in 30 years.

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