Since 1 July 2026, every real estate agency in Australia that brokers a property sale is a reporting entity under AUSTRAC's Tranche 2 AML/CTF regime. Most of the conversation this year has been about the visible work: enrolling with AUSTRAC, writing an AML/CTF programme, training staff, filing the annual report. There's a quieter cost that hasn't had the same attention, and it's the one now showing up on invoices.

Every year when I sit down to review the Proptech Award entries, I get a snapshot of where our industry is really at. Not where the hype cycle says we are. Not where the conference keynotes say we should be. But where the actual companies — the ones building, shipping and selling — are right now. This year, we had 166 entries competing for 35 awards. That's a record. And the standard was exceptional. But what was most interesting wasn't the volume. It was the patterns.

The Australian Government wants to make credentials digital — driver licences, income statements, qualifications — in a way that's cryptographically secure, privacy-preserving, and instantly verifiable. They've released a proposed framework and are asking the industry how it should be implemented. Property is one of the most credential-heavy sectors in the economy, and verifiable credentials (VCs) will change how tenant verification, agent licensing, and ownership checks wor

Proptech Australia member Search X has announced the appointment of Ben Ikin as Chief Executive Officer, marking a major milestone in the company’s continued expansion across the property technology, compliance and professional services sectors. Mr Ikin will lead the next phase of growth for SearchX and its expanding group of PropRT businesses, including SignedX, PropRT Conveyancing and WealthApp.

As we look across the 2026 landscape, the rural property market is transitioning from a period of "startup chaos" to one of "scale-up structure". According to the latest findings from the DAS (Digital Agriculture Services) Australian Rural Property Sales Report 2025, the market is currently a story of quiet resilience, characterised by record-high median prices even as transaction volumes face a significant cooling period.

The Tranche 2 compliance software market has exploded almost overnight. A deadline as significant as 1 July 2026 was always going to attract attention, and it has. New platforms are appearing weekly, each promising to handle everything Australian real estate agencies need to meet their AUSTRAC obligations.

There's a lot going on behind the scenes in residential real estate and proptech. The opportunity is hiding in plain sight for real estate agents – the only thing that stands in their way is a few embedded assumptions about what consumers want and a very “old school’ view of the property features that drive attraction and perceptions of value.

Proptech Start-Ups and Scale-Ups will be especially interested in the latest annual report on VC funding in Australia, which has been produced for a fifth year by Cut Through Venture and Folklore Venture.

A new female founder program has been launched by Techready Women and proptechs are eligible to apply.

Digital forms provider Forms Live has announced it will operate independently in Tasmania after the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania (REIT) announced it has ended its relationship with Dynamic Methods.

Proptech Australia – the peak body for the property technology sector - has announced the release of a new set of AI Governance Guidelines and Principles designed to support greater transparency, accountability, and trust between real estate technology providers and their clients.

Below are some basic principles and questions that Proptech Australia believes that all proptechs providing AI services should be able to answer transparently for clients.

The first predictions for the 2026 Australian property market are already making headlines and proptechs can expect to continue to engage with a growing market for services as a result.

Proptech Australia’s 2025 Proptech Forum – hosted in Melbourne for the first time – has been hailed as a success, exceeding expectations for attendance and creating deep engagement on its theme, "Navigating an AI-Enabled Future."

The Proptech Podcast, hosted by Proptech Australia President Kylie Davis, this month features Vishal Gupta, founder of Property Dollar, a winner at the 2025 Proptech Awards.

Proptech member Realtime Conveyancer has announced the launch of a new property search integration with SAILIS, which operates under Land Services SA.

We couldn't have asked for a better launch! Our very first Pitch in the Pub event set a sensational tone for the entire Proptech Forum. It was a great night of proptech innovation, networking, and cold drinks.

The rental shortage that caused such an outcry in the aftermath of Covid is back with the national vacancy rate at just 1.47%.

Check out these podcasts focusing on the Proptech sector, featuring Kevin Williams, the director of Core Vision, and Logan Nathan, the CEO of i4T Global.

We’ve seen phenomenal innovation across Australian PropTech in recent years. Brilliant products. Smart founders. Ambitious investors. But if we’re honest, what we’ve built so far isn’t an ecosystem it’s a patchwork.