Victoria just made agents publish your reserve price.

Victoria just passed a law the industry has quietly dreaded for years. Every property going to auction must show its reserve price up front, in writing, in public, locked. I ran more than 2,000 auctions in 15 years. I can tell you exactly which trick this kills.

01 · The law

What the new law actually says.

Seven days’ notice. The reserve must be published at least seven days before the auction or fixed-date sale. Buyers see the real number a full week out, not on the footpath after the hammer drops.

No quiet edits. Once it’s published, the reserve can’t be changed. The vendor loses the traditional “right” to nudge it up on auction morning based on the size of the crowd.

No reserve, no auction. Miss the timeframe and the property can’t proceed to auction or sale. Full stop. Every ad and portal listing has to reflect the published number, and non-compliant advertising has to come down.

It takes effect from 1 October 2026, and it builds on Victoria’s Underquoting Taskforce, which has already issued more than 200 infringements and over $2.3 million in fines. Victoria becomes the first state in Australia with this level of transparency.

02 · The trick

The trick this kills: underquoting.

Here’s how underquoting works, told straight. An agent advertises a home at “$850,000+”. Buyers fall for it and spend money they’ll never get back (building inspections, conveyancing, days off work, an auction Saturday) chasing a property that was always going to sell at $980,000.

The low quote was never an estimate. It was bait. A bigger crowd manufactures competition. It’s already illegal, but the price guide and the reserve lived in two different worlds. The guide was marketing. The reserve was a secret kept until the auctioneer “went inside for a chat.” Publishing the reserve collapses that gap.

The number you’re bidding against is now the number on the page. Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos put it plainly: “Underquoting isn’t fair and it’s young Victorians and families paying the price.”

03 · The day

The part agents aren’t saying out loud.

The seven-day rule gets the headlines. The detail that actually rattles the industry is this one: the reserve can’t change on the day.

For decades the reserve was a live lever. Small crowd? Quietly lift it so the property “passes in” and the vendor gets conditioned into a price drop in the kitchen afterwards. Big crowd? Hold it low to keep the bidding loose, then push the vendor to “meet the market” the second momentum stalls.

The reserve conversation on auction morning was never really about the reserve. It was about managing the vendor. Lock the number in seven days early and that lever is gone. No on-the-day conditioning. No “the market has spoken” speech when the market was never given an honest number to speak to.

The theatre loses a key prop. I’m not mourning it.

04 · What it means

For sellers, and for buyers.

If you’re selling, this is good for you, if you set the right number. The whole game now rides on one decision: what’s your reserve actually worth? Get it from comparable sales analysis grounded in real data, not an agent’s “feel for the area,” and not an inflated appraisal designed to win your listing and get walked back eight weeks later. A soft number used to be quietly corrected on the day. It can’t be anymore.

If you’re buying, fewer wasted Saturdays. When the reserve is on the page a week out, you know whether you’re a genuine contender before you spend a dollar on due diligence. If the reserve is $200k above your ceiling, you find out from your couch. For first-home buyers especially, the people this law was written to protect, that’s the difference between hope and information.

Transparency stopped being a nice-to-have. Victoria just made it the law.

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This is general commentary, not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with Consumer Affairs Victoria or a qualified conveyancer before your campaign. If you’re selling in Victoria and want a reserve built on real comparable sales, start with a free AI valuation, no obligation, no agent call.