By Barry Pound Licensee – BEAGL Buyers Agents

In the United States, the brokerage Compass has sparked a major conversation about how property listings reach the market.

Their strategy is simple but powerful: promote properties to buyers before they hit the traditional listing systems.

Through pre-market and “coming soon” listings, Compass is creating early access to inventory while reducing the reliance on expensive public marketing campaigns.

They are even partnering with companies like Rocket Companies and exposing those listings through platforms such as Redfin, showing how the industry can rethink the traditional pathways of listing distribution.

Whether you agree with their approach or not, one thing is clear:

They are challenging the status quo.

And Australia should be paying attention.

The Rising Cost of Property Marketing in Australia

In Australia, the dominant portals, particularly REA Group and Domain Group, now command enormous influence over how property listings reach buyers.

While they provide exposure, the cost to sellers continues to rise dramatically.

For many properties, marketing campaigns can easily exceed $8,000 – $20,000 once premium listings and advertising upgrades are included.

For many sellers, this cost has simply become accepted as the “price of selling”.

But there may be another way.

The Emerging Role of Buyer Agents

Australia’s buyer agency industry is growing rapidly.

Unlike the United States, where buyer agents represent roughly half of the industry, Australia has historically focused almost entirely on listing agents.

But that balance is changing.

Buyer agents represent qualified, finance-ready buyers actively seeking property.

When listing agents collaborate with buyer agents before a property goes to market, several benefits emerge:

• Sellers can test the market early
• Buyers gain access to property before public competition
• Marketing costs can be reduced significantly
• Transactions can occur more efficiently

The Opportunity for Collaboration

At BEAGL Buyers Agency in Western Australia, we are already seeing listing agents increasingly approach us with:

• Pre-market opportunities
• Off-market listings
• Quiet listings prior to advertising campaigns

Why?

Because buyer agents represent real demand.

Instead of waiting for a property to hit the portals, listing agents can introduce it directly to networks of active buyers.

This approach benefits everyone involved.

The Role for Industry Leadership

Industry bodies such as the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia and other state institutes have a significant opportunity here.

Rather than allowing the cost of portal advertising to continue escalating, the industry could develop structured pre-market distribution platforms that allow agents to collaborate more effectively.

Possible initiatives could include:

• Industry pre-market listing exchanges
• Verified buyer-agent distribution networks
• Secure off-market listing platforms
• Lower-cost listing ecosystems

The Future of Property Sales May Start Before the Listing Goes Live

The real estate industry was built on cooperation between professionals representing buyers and sellers.

Technology should strengthen that cooperation, not replace it.

The Compass strategy in the United States is forcing the industry to reconsider long-standing assumptions about listing distribution.

Australia has the opportunity to lead its own evolution rather than simply react to it later.

From my perspective, buyer agents and listing agents working together earlier in the sales cycle could create a more efficient, more cost-effective and more transparent property market.

And that is something every seller and buyer should welcome.