Knowing the reserve earlier should help you decide whether a home is within reach. But sellers may adapt their tactics, so buyers still need evidence, budget discipline and a clear plan.
Audience: owner-occupiers, first home buyers and upgraders
Category: Buyer Education
Quick Answer
For Victorian home buyers, the key change is reserve price disclosure. Agents must publish the seller's reserve at least seven days before auctions and fixed-date sales held from 16 October 2026. Most reforms commence on 1 October 2026. [1] Your buying limit should still come from your budget and assessment of value.
Imagine spending three weekends inspecting a home, arranging a building report and picturing your furniture in the living room, only to discover that the seller wants more than you can comfortably pay. By then, you have put time, money and thought into a property that may never have been within reach.
Victoria's October pricing reforms aim to bring the seller's expectations into view earlier. The Consumer Legislation Amendment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 8 September 2026, so these changes have passed into law. [2]
For buyers, that is a welcome improvement, although it does not remove the seller's desire to achieve the highest price. At Buy with Eliza, we expect some agents may change how they run campaigns, with more private negotiations or a longer period of testing interest before an auction is announced. Better information should help you make decisions, but how the property is being sold will still deserve your attention.
Before You Read Further
This article provides general information for Victorian property buyers. Market data changes and providers use different methods. Property value, contract terms, finance and auction decisions depend on the particular property and buyer. Obtain appropriate independent professional advice before making a purchase decision.
CHECK POINT
Use the new information without letting it replace your own limit.
- Separate the seller's reserve from your view of value.
- Keep your walk-away number clear before negotiating or bidding.
- Watch whether the campaign is asking for interest or offers.
before increasing an offer
What has changed since your last offer?
When an agent asks you to offer more, it helps to understand what sits behind the request before deciding how to respond.
- Is there new sales evidence that changes your assessment of the home's value?
- Is the seller offering terms that better suit you, such as a more workable settlement date?
- Or is the request based on competition or urgency, without anything else changing?
A request for more money is a reason to review your position, not an obligation to increase your offer.
When do Victoria's new reserve price rules start?
The October dates matter. Most changes commence on 1 October 2026, while the reserve and associated pricing requirements apply to auctions and fixed-date sales held from 16 October 2026. That means a sale scheduled for 16 October needs its reserve disclosed by 9 October, with existing rules continuing to apply during the transition. [1]
What must agents disclose before an auction or fixed-date sale?
Agents must publish the seller's reserve at least seven days before the relevant auction or fixed-date sale, which is a sale with a deadline for offers. The advertising and Property Price Statement must reflect that reserve as a single dollar amount, without qualifiers, and the sale cannot proceed by that method without the required publication. [1]
For a buyer, this creates an earlier opportunity to decide whether the seller's expectations make the property worth pursuing, before putting more time into preparing for the sale.
What is the Property Price Statement (PPS)?
The Property Price Statement (PPS) replaces the Statement of Information and must appear prominently online. Alongside pricing information, it adds the building type, bedrooms, bathrooms, parking, floor area and land size for both the home being sold and its comparable sales. Where agents can identify only one or two suitable comparisons, they must use those rather than leave them out because three are not available. [3]
Sale results should also become easier to follow. The PPS must generally include the sold price within seven days of an unconditional sale, subject to exemptions, while the statement itself must remain freely accessible online for at least 18 months after the unconditional sale date. [3]
Is the reserve price what you should pay?
The reserve is the seller's minimum price for an auction, which may differ from the agent's estimate. Competition between buyers can push the eventual result higher, so a sale above the advertised price does not, on its own, establish that underquoting has occurred. [5] Nor does the reserve disclosure requirement itself oblige the seller to accept a bid at or above that figure. [4]
Our approach is to keep three numbers separate:
- the seller's reserve,
- your assessment of value, and
- your comfortable maximum purchase price.
They answer different questions, even when they happen to be close.
For example, imagine a home with a $950,000 reserve where your research supports paying up to $980,000, but your comfortable purchase limit is $960,000. There may be a reasonable argument for a higher price, yet that does not mean it is the right amount for you to spend.
Your limit remains $960,000. Another bidder's enthusiasm does not change what you can comfortably afford.
The same thinking applies when your research suggests the home is worth less than the reserve. You do not need to adopt the seller's figure simply because it now appears in an official document; instead, use its disclosure as a reason to revisit your research and decide whether to proceed or put your time into another home.
Is the reserve price what you should pay?
Two three-bedroom houses can look similar in a search result and feel very different at an inspection. One might have room for a desk and a dining table without compromising the living space, while the other would need a renovation to make everyday life work.
The PPS should make some of those differences easier to spot, but the figures will not tell you everything about condition, layout, street position or natural light. Use the statement to ask why the agent has chosen each comparison, then consider how closely those homes resemble the one you are thinking of buying.
Following a shortlist of relevant sales over time can help you build that understanding. Once you know the properties behind the numbers, you are in a better position to judge whether a price guide makes sense and where a comparison falls short.
Do the reserve price rules apply to expressions of interest (EOI)?
An expressions of interest (EOI) label does not automatically make a campaign exempt. Our reading of the legislation is that a deadline for purchase offers may bring a campaign within the fixed-date sale rules, regardless of the name used to advertise it [3] - however - expect this to be tested by agents in the coming months.
At Buy with Eliza, we expect some sellers may favour private sales or EOI campaigns as a way to test demand before declaring a reserve, perhaps gathering interest first and moving to auction weeks later.
One distinction to watch is whether the agent is asking you to register interest or make an offer. A seller could ask interested buyers to respond by a date without requiring purchase offers, and that approach may fall outside the seven-day reserve requirement at that stage. Its treatment still needs clarification, so it should not be assumed to provide an exemption.
The statutory definition focuses on a date and time by which buyers must make offers; it does not require the seller to promise to accept one. How a particular campaign operates therefore matters more than whether it is described as non-binding or given an EOI label. [3] Other pricing and underquoting obligations also continue to apply, so agents cannot simply change a price guide without regard to them. [5]
From "register your interest" to another round of bidding
Consider a hypothetical campaign in which you inspect a home advertised for expressions of interest. The agent asks you to register your interest, and the conversation turns to what you like about the property and roughly where you see its value.
Over the following weeks, those conversations develop into negotiations. You submit an offer and later receive a call asking whether you can improve it, while the advertised range changes where the evidence justifies an adjustment. After testing the response, the seller decides to go to auction.
By then, you have already spent weeks considering the home and now have another stage to prepare for, although the auction would still need to satisfy the applicable reserve publication rules. [1]
That negotiation phase could feel like a "silent auction", with repeated requests to improve your offer and little visibility of what other buyers are offering. We use that phrase to describe the uncertainty a buyer may feel, rather than a formal sales method.
It is easy to see how the pressure could build: each conversation makes the property feel a little closer, and the time already invested makes walking away harder. None of that changes the home's layout, condition or suitability for your budget.
We would also watch for sellers publishing ambitious reserves to protect their negotiating position, particularly if buyers begin treating a formally disclosed figure as reassurance about value. Better disclosure can be useful without necessarily lowering prices or shortening the path to a purchase.
Preparing for an October purchase
Having your research under way before the reserve appears gives you time to consider the new information without starting from scratch. If the campaign changes direction, the following checks can help you work through what that means for your next decision:
- Establish a comfortable purchase limit with room for buying costs and the work the property may need.
- Read the latest pricing statement and compare it with your own sales research.
- Ask whether there is an offer deadline, whether the seller is ready to accept an offer, and whether an auction is being considered.
- Keep a record of price-guide changes and ask what evidence supports them before revising your own offer.
- Arrange property checks and legal review with enough time to understand the findings.
- Write down your walk-away figure before bidding or negotiating.
If the reserve changes close to the sale, seek clarification about the timetable and current requirements rather than assuming that every late change is permitted or automatically cancels the sale.
These October reforms are separate from the Section 32 disclosure changes that begin on 1 June 2027. As at 11 September 2026, Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) still says it will publish the PPS template before the new laws start. [1]
The Takeaway
The uncertainty for buyers may shift from finding out the seller's price to understanding how the sale will unfold. At Buy with Eliza, we expect some sellers may spend longer testing interest through private negotiations or expressions of interest before deciding whether to go to auction, leaving buyers involved in a property for weeks while the next step remains unclear.
If you find yourself in that position, it is worth asking what the seller is seeking now, whether there is a deadline for offers and what would bring the negotiations to a decision. Those conversations can help you judge whether to keep pursuing the home, while giving you a chance to review the terms and outstanding property checks before committing further.
NEXT STEPS
Having someone on your side when the campaign changes
When an agent asks for another $20,000, it helps to have someone beside you who can work through whether anything has changed to justify it. There may be new evidence about value or better terms on offer, but there may also be no good reason to stretch beyond the plan you made.
At Buy with Eliza, we represent buyers only, helping you assess comparable sales, question changes in the campaign and decide how to respond. Depending on what the evidence shows, that might mean improving an offer on terms that suit you, holding your position or walking away.
If the property moves to auction, we can help you prepare a bidding strategy, while coordination of property checks and identification of matters for your conveyancer or solicitor depend on the service you engage us for. The aim is to give you a clearer view of both the evidence and the work still needed before you make each decision.
We cannot know every competing offer or control the seller's decisions. What we can do is help you think through the pressure and uncertainty, so your next move reflects your interests and what you can comfortably afford.
If you have already found a property, our Negotiation & Auction Support may be the relevant starting point, while Search, Secure & Settle provides broader support across the buying journey. We will help you choose the service scope that fits your situation.
