October 2004 - REI V vs The Age: The battle for information October 2004 RETURN
It is with great interest we watch the efforts of both the REIV and Australian Property Monitors on behalf of The Age, lay claims to become the undisputed beholder of weekly sale results for property in Victoria. Current and accurate sales data is vital to all those concerned with the property sector and is therefore a valuable commodity. This is simply because assessing up to the minute market trends is so superior to relying on statistics from say the Valuer General’s Office that can be based on market activity up to 6 months old. The whole market can change in that space of time. The Estate Agency industry has long provided auctions sales results to both The Age & The Herald Sun as a public reference at no charge, despite the effort needed. The Age recently outsourced its record keeping to APM who then wished to on sell the information back to our industry, ironically who had provided the data free in the first place. In the mean time the REIV moved to quell the inaccuracy of promoting only auction sales by agreeing to supply auction, post auction and private treaty results to the Herald Sun. The industry body was soon supported by many estate Agencies only reporting their results to the REIV and therefore leaving the results published in the Age as inferior. The Age has turned down an offer of using the REIV data for free, citing contractual confines. APM has since had staff members attend various auctions to bolster their data, yet it is still proving incomplete. Later still they have agreed to supply the data back to the industry for free, yet only with conditions of mutual trade. Again the REIV is providing protection to its members from dominant media groups, just as when it provided the industry website realestateview.com.au and slashed the costs of internet marketing by probably 90%. We will watch this joust closely.
It is with great interest we watch the efforts of both the REIV and Australian Property Monitors on behalf of The Age, lay claims to become the undisputed beholder of weekly sale results for property in Victoria. Current and accurate sales data is vital to all those concerned with the property sector and is therefore a valuable commodity. This is simply because assessing up to the minute market trends is so superior to relying on statistics from say the Valuer General’s Office that can be based on market activity up to 6 months old. The whole market can change in that space of time. The Estate Agency industry has long provided auctions sales results to both The Age & The Herald Sun as a public reference at no charge, despite the effort needed. The Age recently outsourced its record keeping to APM who then wished to on sell the information back to our industry, ironically who had provided the data free in the first place. In the mean time the REIV moved to quell the inaccuracy of promoting only auction sales by agreeing to supply auction, post auction and private treaty results to the Herald Sun. The industry body was soon supported by many estate Agencies only reporting their results to the REIV and therefore leaving the results published in the Age as inferior. The Age has turned down an offer of using the REIV data for free, citing contractual confines. APM has since had staff members attend various auctions to bolster their data, yet it is still proving incomplete. Later still they have agreed to supply the data back to the industry for free, yet only with conditions of mutual trade. Again the REIV is providing protection to its members from dominant media groups, just as when it provided the industry website realestateview.com.au and slashed the costs of internet marketing by probably 90%. We will watch this joust closely.