AML/CTF compliance for Australian real estate agents — what AUSTRAC and the OAIC expect

A primary-source briefing for real-estate agencies that become reporting entities under AML/CTF Tranche 2. Quotes are verbatim from AUSTRAC's January 2026 sector starter kit and the OAIC's CC BY 4.0 templates.

Published 14 May 2026 · privacycovered.com.au

What AUSTRAC says about real estate

"Australia is one of the most attractive real estate markets globally. Australia's 2024 money laundering national risk assessment assessed: real estate as having a very high and stable vulnerability to money laundering. Criminals often exploit real estate as a core component of money laundering schemes; real estate agents as posing a medium and stable vulnerability to money laundering, being exposed to potentially significant amounts of criminal proceeds."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Money laundering: Inherent risk".

"Between July 2020 and June 2023, law enforcement authorities seized over $62 million in real estate as part of proceeds of crime investigations. Notably, the sector also attracts significant foreign criminal investments looking to legitimise illicit funds."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Money laundering: Inherent risk".

"As the sale and purchase of real estate is a highly common way to launder money, real estate agents are inherently exposed to significant amounts of criminal proceeds when they hold deposits and other payments from customers."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Money laundering: Inherent risk".

Your designated service (Table 5)

"Brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate on behalf of a customer. (Item 1, Table 5 of the AML/CTF Act)"

"Real estate brokering involves acting as an intermediary between buyers and sellers to complete property transactions. The real estate agent typically: lists the property for sale, often through multiple listing sites and marketing channels; assesses potential buyers' financial capacity to buy the property; presents offers from buyers to the seller and negotiates terms such as price, contingencies, and settlement dates until an agreement is reached."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Designated services: Inherent risk".

Trust accounts — the high-risk surface AUSTRAC names

"Real estate agents are required to hold funds received from buyers in a statutory trust account, as opposed to an ordinary business bank account. When a buyer transfers a deposit on a property to the agent, they will hold it in their trust account until they're instructed by a conveyancer to send those funds to the seller. Criminals can misuse trust accounts to move illicit money while hiding its origin from the beneficiary."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Common ML/TF methods — Trust accounts".

Risk factors AUSTRAC tells agents to watch for

"Physical currency is anonymous and hard to trace, making it difficult to verify the source of funds. In Australia, it's one of the most restrained, forfeited or frozen asset types in criminal asset confiscation matters… Criminals looking to purchase real estate with large amounts of physical cash may give the cash to an agent or deposit it into the agency's statutory trust account directly."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Designated services: Risk factors — High value physical currency transactions".

"High-value real estate markets are attractive to people seeking to launder illicit funds gained from criminal activity, as they can launder more funds in one transaction. This has been seen by law enforcement with the number of high-value properties seized in proceeds of crime investigations."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Designated services: Risk factors — High value and unfinanced transactions".

"Legitimate services offered by professionals such as lawyers and accountants can also be used by criminals to help mask their identity and the origin of their criminal profits, whether the professional is aware of the criminal's intentions. For example, a person may hire a solicitor to manage all interactions with a real estate agent, making it difficult for the agent to understand who their customer is."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Common ML/TF methods — Use of non-financial professionals".

"Where criminals work with other parties to misrepresent a property's price on official documents, allowing illicit funds to be legitimised through the transaction… For undervaluation, the sale contract would record a price lower than market value. The buyer pays the difference to the seller with illicitly sourced physical cash. For overvaluation, the property would be purchased at an inflated price, so that the buyer can secure the largest possible loan, which can then be repaid using illicit funds."

— AUSTRAC, Real estate — Risk assessment — January 2026, "Common ML/TF methods — Overvaluation or undervaluation".

The Privacy Act overlay — what the OAIC expects

Because you now collect identity documents, beneficial ownership information, and source-of-funds evidence for every customer, the Privacy Act applies to that data even if your agency would otherwise be exempt under the small-business turnover threshold. The OAIC's Privacy Management Plan template (CC BY 4.0) sets out the framework:

"The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's (OAIC) Privacy management framework outlines steps to take to meet your ongoing compliance obligations under Australian Privacy Principle (APP) 1.2. A key tool to help you meet these requirements is to develop and implement a privacy management plan."

— OAIC, Privacy management plan template, distributed under CC BY 4.0.

And at customer onboarding, the OAIC publishes the verbatim collection notice for reporting entities:

"We collect your personal information to comply with the 'Customer Due Diligence' requirements in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act). This includes to: establish and verify your identity before providing certain services to you or the person you are acting on behalf of; assess and manage potential money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation financing risks or related compliance risks associated with the provision of our services; make reports required by law under the AML/CTF Act; meet record keeping obligations under the AML/CTF Act."

— OAIC, Template privacy collection notice for reporting entities under the AML/CTF Act, distributed under CC BY 4.0.

What this means in practice

The 1 July 2026 minimum surface for a real-estate agency is:

• Enrolment with AUSTRAC and an appointed AML/CTF Compliance Officer.
• Customer Due Diligence (initial, enhanced for higher-risk buyers/sellers, periodic and trigger-event reviews) before brokering a sale, purchase or transfer.
• PEP and sanctions screening at onboarding.
• A 7-year record retention scheme covering CDD records (s.113), transaction records (s.107) and program records (s.116).
• A documented AML/CTF program approved by the governing body under s.26F.
• An OAIC-compliant privacy program: APP 1.3 policy, APP 5 collection notice issued at the CDD step, APP 8 cross-border record if your identity-verification provider sends data overseas, and a Notifiable Data Breach response procedure under Part IIIC.

For the full statutory framework and a 6-week countdown plan, see the Tranche 2 explainer.

This page reproduces verbatim passages from AUSTRAC's January 2026 sector starter kits (used under AUSTRAC's published licence) and the OAIC's Privacy Management Plan template and AML/CTF Privacy Collection Notice template (used under CC BY 4.0). It is not legal advice. The OAIC and AUSTRAC have not endorsed privacycovered.com.au or any product or service offered through it. Engage qualified Australian counsel to confirm the obligations and documents fit your agency's circumstances.