Why Queensland Won't Tell You What an Auction Property Is Worth — And What to Do About It
In Queensland, vendors aren't required to provide a price guide for auction properties. Here's how to value any property yourself using real data.
Why Queensland Won't Tell You What an Auction Property Is Worth — And What to Do About It
Published by Fields Estate | Gold Coast Real Estate Intelligence
You've found a property you love. It's going to auction. You search the listing. Where other states would show a price range — $950,000–$1,050,000 — you find a single line:
"This property is being sold by auction or without a price and therefore a price guide cannot be provided."
You call the agent. They can't tell you either. Not a range. Not a ballpark. Not even an off-the-record whisper. Nothing.
This is not an oversight. It is the law.
The Law: What It Says and Why It Exists
Queensland's prohibition on auction price guides is codified in the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) — the legislation that governs real estate agents, auctioneers, and property transactions in the state.
Section 216 prohibits real estate agents from disclosing to any buyer:1 - The reserve price - Any price they believe the property is likely to sell for - Any figure that could reasonably be understood as a price guide
Section 214 extends the same prohibition to auctioneers themselves.1
The penalty for breaching either section is 540 penalty units — currently worth $90,126 per offence at the 2025–26 penalty unit rate of $166.90, effective 1 July 20252,3 — plus potential disciplinary action against the agent's licence. Breaches that amount to misleading or deceptive conduct may also attract penalties under the Australian Consumer Law, where individual penalties reach $500,000.4
There is one narrow technical exception: an agent may supply a price bracket to a listing platform solely to allow buyers to filter search results. But the listing itself cannot display that figure, and the platform must publish the prescribed statement above.5 Any price bracket you see in a website filter is a system artefact, not a price guide.
Why Did Queensland Ban Price Guides?
The Property Occupations Act 2014 was introduced by the Newman government and commenced on 1 December 2014, replacing the older Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000.6 The auction price guide prohibition was among its most debated provisions.
The rationale came down to two arguments.
1. Any price guide is inherently misleading
Auction prices are determined by competitive bidding on the day. No agent knows what two strangers in a room will pay for a property on a given Saturday morning. An agent who quotes $900,000–$950,000 is not providing information — they are speculating. If that speculation turns out to be wrong, buyers who prepared financially for that range may have wasted money on legal searches, building reports, and pest inspections on a property they could never afford.
Queensland's position is that no guide is better than a false guide.
2. Preventing "underquoting"
In the decade before the Act, underquoting had become a documented problem in the eastern states. Agents — particularly in Sydney and Melbourne — routinely published price guides 10–20% below what the vendor had instructed as a reserve price. This practice attracted more bidders, created the illusion of competition, and drove prices higher through manufactured urgency.
For buyers, underquoting was expensive. A buyer who inspected a property quoted at $750,000, commissioned a building inspection at $600, engaged a solicitor to review the contract at $800, and arranged finance approval — only to watch bidding close at $920,000 — had spent real money on a property they never had a genuine chance of buying.
Queensland's response was to ban the practice at the source. If no estimate can be given, no estimate can be manipulated.4
The Industry Was Divided
The law was not universally welcomed, even within the industry.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) defended the prohibition, arguing that Queensland had not developed the underquoting culture that plagued NSW and Victoria, and that a bright-line ban was cleaner than trying to regulate the accuracy of estimates.7
Critics were less measured. John McGrath of McGrath Estate Agents described it as "insanity" and "dark days for the industry," calling it unprecedented to deny buyers price information on what is typically the largest financial transaction of their lives.8 REINSW president Malcolm Gunning called it "a step backward for consumers."9
Those critics have a point that is worth sitting with: the law was designed to protect buyers. Its practical effect is that buyers now enter Queensland auctions with less information than buyers in any other state in Australia.
How other states approach the same problem:
| State | Price guides at auction? | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Queensland | Prohibited | Outright ban — no estimate permitted |
| New South Wales | Mandatory | Must be provided; range no wider than 10%; must be updated if offers exceed it10 |
| Victoria | Mandatory + reserve disclosed | Price guide required; genuine reserve price must be disclosed 7 days before auction11 |
Victoria has recently gone the furthest of any state: sellers must now disclose the actual reserve price before the auction day. The logic is the opposite of Queensland's — maximum transparency rather than maximum caution. As of March 2026, Queensland has not signalled any move toward that model.
What This Means for You as a Buyer
Queensland's law shifts the entire burden of price discovery onto the buyer. The agent cannot help you. The listing will not help you. The only way to know whether a price is fair before you raise your hand in the auction room is to do your own valuation.
This is not as daunting as it sounds. Professional valuers use a structured, repeatable process called the Direct Comparison Approach. With access to comparable sales data, any buyer can work through the same logic.
The Direct Comparison Approach in Brief
Step 1: Find comparable sales Identify three to five properties that have sold recently — ideally within the past six months — that are physically similar to the property you are evaluating. Prioritise properties in the same suburb, with the same number of bedrooms, similar land size, and similar build quality. Recent beats similar: a slightly less comparable sale from last month is more useful than a near-perfect comparable from two years ago.
Step 2: Adjust for differences No two properties are identical. For each comparable sale, adjust the price up or down to account for differences between that property and yours. If the comparable had a smaller land area, a worse street position, or needed renovation, add value. If it had a larger block or a better view, subtract. Common adjustment benchmarks used by valuers include:
- Land size: valued per m² based on the suburb's land rate - Floor area: approximately $3,000–$5,000 per m² for liveable space - Bedrooms: $20,000–$50,000 per bedroom - Bathrooms: $15,000–$30,000 per bathroom - Car spaces: $15,000–$30,000 per space - Condition/renovation: 3–15% of the overall estimate
After each adjustment, you have a figure — "what would this comparable have sold for if it were our property?" Do this for all three to five comparables.
Step 3: Reconcile Weight your adjusted comparables by reliability. The most recent sales, those requiring the fewest adjustments, and those with the most complete data deserve more weight. Average those weighted figures into a final estimate. That is your view of value.
If the listing agent's reserve sits above your estimate, you know how much premium the vendor is seeking. If bidding exceeds your figure on the day, you have a principled reason to stop.
A Note on Automated Valuation Estimates
Automated platform valuations have improved significantly. As of August 2024, CoreLogic reported that almost 90% of its automated valuation estimates fell within 15% of the actual sale price — an 8% accuracy uplift since its previous model release in February 2023.12 Coverage now extends to more than 96% of Australian residential properties.12
That accuracy range is useful as a sanity check. But "within 15%" on a $1,000,000 property means a spread of up to $300,000. For auction preparation, where you need to set a firm walk-away number, an automated estimate is a starting point — not a substitute for the Direct Comparison Approach above.
Run a Live Valuation on Any Southern Gold Coast Property
Fields Estate has built a free valuation tool for buyers navigating exactly this problem — powered by live sales data across the southern Gold Coast.
Every property listing on the Fields platform includes a Valuation Guide that walks you through the Direct Comparison Approach step-by-step: the comparable sales selected, the adjustments applied to each, the weights assigned, and the final reconciled estimate. You can see precisely which properties informed the valuation, how they compare to the subject property feature-by-feature, and where the final figure sits relative to the current listing price.
For auction properties going to market without a price guide, this is the closest thing to an independent valuation that is publicly available at no cost.
Browse current Southern Gold Coast listings with live valuation data: fieldsestate.com.au/for-sale
See an example valuation guide on a live property: fieldsestate.com.au/property/69981b5ad1ed23a7d02c6373
Fields Estate covers Robina, Mudgeeraba, Varsity Lakes, Carrara, Reedy Creek, Burleigh Waters, Merrimac, Worongary, and surrounding suburbs. Data is updated continuously from verified sales and current listings.
Sources
1. AustLII (2025) Property Occupations Act 2014, ss 214 & 216, Queensland Legislation. classic.austlii.edu.au
2. Queensland Government (2025) Sentencing fines and penalties for offences, Queensland Government. qld.gov.au
3. Gatenby Law (2025) What QLD's Penalty Unit Increase Means for Fines, Gatenby Law. gatenbylaw.com.au
4. Armstrong Legal (2025) Misleading Property Price Guides (Qld), Armstrong Legal. armstronglegal.com.au
5. Queensland Legislation (2022) Property Occupations Regulation 2014, Queensland Government. legislation.qld.gov.au
6. Queensland Government (2024) Auctioning a property, Queensland Government. qld.gov.au
7. REIQ (2024) Going, going, gone: The law and authority of auctioning real property, Real Estate Institute of Queensland. reiq.com
8. Urban.com.au (2014) Dark ages descending on Queensland as auction price guide ban defies common sense: John McGrath, Urban.com.au. urban.com.au
9. Real Estate Business (2014) Removal of auction price guides in QLD sparks NSW backlash, Real Estate Business. realestatebusiness.com.au
10. NSW Government (2024) Underquoting guidance for property professionals, NSW Government. nsw.gov.au
11. The Conversation (2024) Victoria will force home sellers to reveal their reserve price. Will other states follow?, The Conversation. theconversation.com
12. The Real Estate Conversation (2024) CoreLogic's Smart Data Platform helps deliver over one million additional usable AVMs, The Real Estate Conversation. therealestateconversation.com.au
Last reviewed: 2 March 2026
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or valuation advice. Fields Real Estate (Licence No. 4832971) makes no warranty as to the accuracy or currency of data published. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and seek independent professional advice before making any property or investment decision. Read our full disclaimer →
