Real Estate Agency Principal
A Real Estate Agency Principal owns and operates a real estate agency business in Australia, managing property sales, leasing, and valuation services. They are responsible for establishing agency policies, ensuring compliance with state-based real estate licensing laws and consumer protection frameworks, and overseeing staff performance and client relationships.
What this job is
A Real Estate Agency Principal owns and operates a real estate agency business in Australia, managing property sales, leasing, and valuation services. They are responsible for establishing agency policies, ensuring compliance with state-based real estate licensing laws and consumer protection frameworks, and overseeing staff performance and client relationships. The role involves strategic business planning, financial management, and direct involvement in high-value property transactions.
Are employers advertising this role?
Steady, down 6.5% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Establish and enforce agency procedures, marketing strategies, and client service standards that comply with state real estate legislation and Real Estate Institute codes of conduct. Obtain and maintain the agency licence with the state or territory regulator and ensure all agents and sales staff hold current statutory licences under relevant state legislation. Manage trust accounts for client monies (deposits, rental bonds) in compliance with state-prescribed accounting rules and statutory trust account requirements. Review and approve property listings, marketing materials, and advertising to ensure compliance with misleading or deceptive conduct provisions under the Australian Consumer Law. Supervise sales agents and leasing consultants, including performance appraisal, training in legal obligations, and disciplinary action where conduct breaches agency standards or licensing laws. Negotiate and close high-value property transactions, including preparation of contracts and coordination with conveyancers and settlement agents. Manage agency finances including pricing of services, cost control, staff remuneration, and reporting to ownership or stakeholders. Investigate and respond to client complaints and disputes, documenting outcomes in accordance with consumer complaint handling obligations.
Who does this now
About 6,000 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
Is it steady
Rent collection and maintenance requests are partly automated. Tenant relations, inspections and tribunal matters tend to stay human-led.
What this role asks for
Diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree (ABS skill level 2)
Registration or licensing is required.
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Jobs and Skills Australia defines an occupation-ready qualification as:
Completing this qualification will provide the skills and knowledge to undertake this occupation. Further training and experience may be required to meet specific industry requirements including licensing and registration.
Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree (ABS skill level 2). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You're carrying massive compliance and legal liability personally. Trust account breaches, agent misconduct, or advertising violations land on you. Earnings can also be uneven, and often depend on the size of the agency. You're also competing against national chains with better tech and resources, and market downturns directly crush your income.
Where the jobs are
Real estate agencies cluster in affluent suburbs and CBD areas where transaction volumes justify staffing. Regional and rural areas have fewer agencies, meaning fewer principal roles. Remote work isn't viable: you need to be on-site managing staff, trust accounts, and client relationships.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 6121, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Complaint Handlingcore
- Conflict Resolutioncore
- CRM System Managementcore
- Customer Needs Assessmentcore
- Goal Setting and Planningcore
- Invoicing and Accounts Receivablecore
- Negotiationcore
- Record Managementcore
- Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Stakeholder Communicationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Confidentiality and Privacy Compliance
- Electronic Document Management
- Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
- Objection Handling
- Process Improvement Identification
- Report Writing
- Research and Analysis
- Service Agreement Administration
- Workload Self-Management
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Real Estate Agency Principal workers move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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