Survey shows Australians don't rank agents highly, but "the reasons are based on perception rather than the reality."
A survey of 30 professions has found that real estate agents are among the lowest ranked profession when it comes to ethics and honesty. Only 9 percent of Australians aged 14 and over rate real estate agents in regard to ethics and honesty, according to Roy Morgan’s annual Image of Professions survey for 2015. Nurses were ranked as the most ethical and honest profession, at 92 percent.
“Real estate agents have historically ranked low in these types of surveys, in line with other sales professionals," said Amanda Lynch, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Australia. "The reasons are based on perception rather than the reality. The only way to address this perception is to maintain high-quality training and standards and continue to fight against the proliferation of three-day quickie qualifications which are offered by outliers in the industry.”
Roy Morgan Executive Chairman Gary Morgan said the biggest losers this year were bank managers at 34 percent (down 9 percent), accountants at 45 percent (down 7 percent), and lawyers at 31 percent (down 7 percent). "Another big loser was financial planners 24 percent (down 4 percent) – now at their lowest ever rating for very high or high ‘ethics and honesty’ following a series of scandals in the industry," said Morgan. “There is still no love for our politicians with State MPs 14 percent (up 2percent) only marginally favoured ahead of Federal MPs 13 percent (up 1 percent)."