There is a gap opening up in Australian real estate right now. And it is widening every week.
On one side, you have principals and leaders who are genuinely thriving — growing their market share, retaining their best people, adapting to change with confidence, and building businesses that look stronger in 2026 than they did two years ago.
On the other side, you have businesses that are working just as hard, carrying just as much experience, but finding that the old playbook is producing diminishing returns. The market is more complex. The compliance burden is heavier. The team is harder to lead. The technology is moving faster than anyone can keep up with.
The difference between these two groups isn’t talent. It isn’t effort. It isn’t even market conditions.
It’s leadership.
The Complexity Has Compounded
In the past eighteen months, Australian real estate principals have had to absorb more structural change than in the previous decade combined.
AML Tranche 2 has turned every agency into a federal reporting entity overnight, with compliance obligations that flow directly into every listing and sale. A multi-speed property market means different strategies are required simultaneously — what works in Perth right now has no relevance to Melbourne, and vice versa. Generative AI is reshaping how properties are marketed, how clients are communicated with, and how businesses operate — and most teams are either ignoring it completely or using it without any strategic framework. And the competition for great people has never been more intense. Retaining your best agents, building a culture people want to be part of, and developing the next generation of leaders in your business requires a completely different skill set than it did even three years ago.
These aren’t temporary disruptions. They are the new operating environment. And the principals who are winning have worked out how to lead through them, not around them.
The Problem With Solving This Alone
The challenge with complexity is that it is very hard to see clearly when you are inside it.
When you’re managing a team, handling compliance, running listings, dealing with market conditions, and trying to grow your business simultaneously, your perspective naturally narrows. You solve the problem in front of you rather than stepping back to look at the system. You make decisions based on what worked before rather than what the situation actually requires.
The best leaders in any industry know that sustained high performance requires deliberate investment in thinking time, peer connection, and outside perspective. Not once a year. Consistently.
That’s the gap. And that’s exactly what The Business of Real Estate 2026 is built to close.
Two Days That Change the Frame
On 8 and 9 September at The Star Gold Coast, we’re bringing together the highest calibre of real estate leadership thinking available in Australia right now.
This isn’t a trade show. It isn’t a series of product presentations dressed up as professional development. The Business of Real Estate is two days of genuine, high-level strategic thinking — designed specifically for principals and leaders who want to operate at a higher level and build businesses that compound over time.
Across the two days you’ll hear from some of the most relevant voices in real estate and leadership right now:
- Peter Rollings, former CEO of Foxtons London, on building a high-performance sales business, scaling systems, and the client experience that creates compounding growth.
- Darren Shand, former Head Coach of the All Blacks, on the leadership disciplines that create sustained excellence under pressure — and how those principles translate directly into real estate.
- Chris Philp, Founder and CEO of Hockingstuart and RT Edgar, on building and sustaining high-performance culture across multiple markets.
- Hannah Gill, CEO of LJ Hooker Group, on leading through complexity and creating businesses that attract and retain exceptional talent.
- Adrian Knowles, CEO of Harcourts International, on the global trends reshaping real estate and what they mean for the Australian market.
- Nick West, Managing Director of McGrath Estate Agents, on strategy, market positioning, and building a business with long-term resilience.
- Darren Shand, former Head Coach of the All Blacks, on the leadership disciplines that create sustained excellence under pressure — and how those principles translate directly into real estate.
- And across both days, Michael Sheargold will be facilitating the thinking and conversations that connect all of it — bringing the frameworks and insights that have shaped more than 18,000 coaching sessions into a focused, practical two days that you can act on immediately.
The Question Worth Sitting With
Every year, the principals who attend The Business of Real Estate come back and say a version of the same thing: the shift in thinking that happens in the room is worth more than anything else they invest in across the year.
Because the gap isn’t a market problem. It isn’t a compliance problem. It isn’t a technology problem. It’s a leadership problem. And leadership problems get solved when you put the right people in the right room and give them the space, the provocation, and the connection to think at a higher level.
The best real estate leaders in Australia will be at The Star Gold Coast on 8 and 9 September.
The only question is whether you’ll be there with them.
