Real estate agents urged to 'enhance responsibly' as AI use rises

Digitally altered furniture, families and songs about floor plans are some of the ways real estate agents use artificial intelligence (AI) to sell and rent homes.

Marketing and consumer behaviour academic Sara Thaichon said the property industry was "one of the fastest adopters of AI in Australia".

It has prompted one state regulator to issue a best practice guide to help the sector avoid misrepresentations.

Ms Thaichon said "virtual staging" was common in real estate to help prospective buyers imagine the home's potential.

"There's nothing wrong about that if it's done correctly, if the use of AI is disclosed," the Griffith University associate professor said.

But she said using AI to enhance and create a false perception of a property can be considered "house-fishing".

The ABC had found several examples of the technology being used in images on real estate websites around the country.

When run through a SynthID detector, those images returned a positive result for OpenAI's invisible watermark, confirming the content had been generated with that tool.

Some real estate websites also feature AI-generated families in property listings.

A Western Australia advertisement featured a digitally altered family of four and their dog having a picnic, with one child holding a wine glass.

The image was tested with SynthID detectors, but none found a watermark.

Google AI's tool determined the image showed "strong signs of digital manipulation or artificial generation," citing inconsistent lighting, the picnic mat's haloing, and the dad's slightly distorted grip on the bottle.

A New South Wales agent used AI to turn several properties' floor plans into acoustic songs featuring lyrics such as "stone-top kitchen, gas and grace" and "four rooms full of little dreams".

In one video, a female voice sang "this is where our future breathes" as the vision cut to the home's bathroom.

Google's tool found these songs were created using AI music tools. 

It said the songs followed a standard "generative prompt structure" of address, features, and amenities, with vocals exhibiting synthetic processing and uniform pitch modulation common in AI music.

Ms Thaichon said AI songs weren't "a big problem" if the lyrics were factually correct.

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Jacob Caine supported using AI to show a property's potential as long as it was stipulated.

Mr Caine said he was aware of incidents where the technology was used to remove "less attractive" features of a place.

He said if it was a deliberate cover-up, that was "misleading" and "frustrating for people".

"If you're going to alter the property, be absolutely explicit that you have done and why you've done that." 

National consumer laws

Under Australian consumer law, businesses are prohibited from engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct or making false or misleading representations about products or services.

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission spokesperson said businesses should ensure AI-generated images do not create an "overall false impression".

They said specific state and territory regulations may also be relevant to AI imagery in real estate listings.

"If consumers believe they have been misled by a business using AI-generated imagery, they can contact their local state or territory consumer protection agency."

'Enhance responsibly'

Queensland's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) released a best practice guide in late June to encourage the industry to "enhance responsibly" and "disclose AI usage".

"OFT has observed a growing trend in the use of digital enhancements and AI-generated content in property marketing," the guide said.

The office outlined that while it can "showcase properties in their best light", it can lead to misrepresentation.

It gave an example of a listing that featured a "sparkling blue pool", but said when prospective buyers visited the property, they found it "in a neglected state, green, murky, and covered by a torn shade sail".

The regulator received six complaints about digitally altered images in real estate advertising since January 2025.

An OFT spokesperson said licensed agents must not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct when advertising properties.

They said the regulator works with the industry to ensure they are educated about their legal obligations, including around marketing material.

Mr Caine said the regulation around the country was "fairly opaque" and "blurry" in how the technology was being used, which left room for "exploitation".

He recommended prospective buyers and renters visit a property in person if they are unsure the online listing matches reality.