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Only 1 in 5 Australian Real Estate Agents Are Visible Where Buyers Actually Search, New National Index Reveals

July 3, 2026

AUSTRALIA, 25 June 2026: New national research from real estate marketing platform Properti has, for the first time, measured the digital visibility of Australia's real estate agents at scale, and the picture is sobering. Of the 38,240 active agents analysed, only 20.8% are visible on the platforms where buyers and sellers actually search, while 38.6% have no discoverable social presence at all.

The Visibility Gap

The Properti Digital Visibility Index (DVI) evaluates agents across five platforms: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and realestate.com.au. It combines presence, content quality, engagement, video and reviews into a single Visibility Score from 0 to 100.

The national average sits at 59.5, at the very top of the Silver band and well short of what the top performers achieve. Only 7,954 agents, around one in five, are active on both Instagram and Facebook, the threshold required to be reliably scored. The rest are either partially present or, for more than a third of the industry, effectively invisible online.

It's a Tale of Two Markets

National averages tell only half the story. On average, the smaller markets lead. Tasmania tops the table with a Visibility Score of 66.2, comfortably in the Gold band, followed by South Australia and the Northern Territory, where a tight pool of competitive operators has lifted the local benchmark for everyone.

The east coast tells the other half. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland sit lower on average, but their scale changes the picture. With by far the largest scored populations in the country, the big three are home to the greatest number of agents operating at the top, the Gold and Platinum performers who set the standard, even as the typical agent there has more ground to make up.

The Reviews Blind Spot

The Index also exposes a blind spot in how agents manage their online reputation. Most agents do not own their own Google Business Profile and rely instead on the agency profile.

This is not a case for going it alone. The strongest operators amplify both brands at once, building their own presence and reviews while actively reinforcing their agency's, so the two compound together rather than competing. Agents who own their own profile already average 4.65 stars, measurably above the 4.42 agency benchmark.

Agents who lean only on the agency profile are left exposed. When a buyer or seller searches them by name, there is little of their own to find, no personal reputation signal and no proof that they, and not just their office, are worth the call.

On realestate.com.au, the average agent rating is 4.98, so uniformly high that it no longer distinguishes one agent from another. Google, at 4.42, remains the most credible signal of genuine consumer sentiment, and the place where an agent's own profile does the most work alongside their agency's.

Why Visibility Matters Now

The research lands as the property portal model reprices around the world. Listing portals have fallen sharply from their highs in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, as AI driven search, agency owned channels and direct discovery widen the road around them.

Buyers and sellers no longer begin and end on a single portal. They search across social platforms, Google and AI assistants, and cross reference an agent before they ever make contact. As discovery decentralises, an agent's own digital visibility shifts from optional to essential, because it is now the first thing both buyers and sellers find.

"For twenty years, agents rented their visibility from portals because there was no alternative. That is changing fast. As AI rewrites how buyers discover property and vendors find agents, the agents who own their own presence are the ones who will compound, while everyone else keeps paying the toll," said Craig Deveson, CEO of Properti.

"This is not about technology replacing agents. It is about technology making good agents more findable and more credible. The Index gives every agent in the country a clear baseline and a way to move," Mr Deveson added.

A Free Baseline for Every Agent

Properti is making the Visibility Score available free to every agent in Australia. Agents can claim their score, see how they rank in their state and suburb, and benchmark against the agents they actually compete with.

This first edition sets a baseline. Future editions will track how the industry moves, who moves fastest, and where new leaders emerge.

About the Digital Visibility Index

The Properti Digital Visibility Index is a continuously updated national benchmark of real estate agent digital presence. Agent records are refreshed nightly and scores recalculated weekly. The Index draws on a national population of 38,240 active agents identified from public licensing and franchise registers and enriched against industry databases. The Visibility Score combines six weighted signals: activity, engagement, reputation, video, creative and reach. The Index measures digital visibility, not commercial performance.

About Properti

Properti is an AI powered real estate marketing platform that helps agents grow their digital presence and get found in the age of AI search. The Properti Agent Grader powers the Digital Visibility Index.

Media Enquiries

Craig Deveson, CEO, Properti craig@properti.ai | Mob 0438 790 035

Note to editors: Real Estate Business (REB) is the exclusive media partner for the 2026 Digital Visibility Index. The full report and media assets are available to accredited media on request.