Family First has warned that the Victorian Government’s proposal to force public disclosure of auction reserve prices risks pushing up housing costs and reducing transparency, leaving young families worse off.
Under the plan, real estate agents would be required to publish the reserve price at least seven days before an auction or fixed-date sale.
Family First Upper House candidate Jane Foreman said the reform sounds attractive on paper but ignores how the market actually behaves.
“We support honesty in the housing market — but this policy will just push more homes off-market, reduce transparency, and drive prices up for families,” Ms Foreman said.
“Vendors will simply withdraw properties even when the published reserve is met, set higher reserves or agents will move to Expressions of Interest and private sales where buyers have less visibility, not more.”
Ms Foreman said the proposal incentivises higher reserves and therefore higher prices. It adds yet another layer of red tape at a time when developers and builders are already under pressure from planning delays, rising costs and tighter finance.
“If you keep making it harder and more rigid for people to bring new homes to market, you will get less supply and higher prices. It’s that simple,” Ms Foreman said.
“Victoria has a housing shortage. We should be encouraging investment and new housing, not adding another regulatory experiment that looks neat in a press release but fails real families in practice.”
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