What Australia’s National AI Plan Means For Real Estate

Artificial intelligence is no longer something that sits in the IT department. It is already shaping how properties are marketed, how leads are followed up and how transactions are processed. The Australian Government’s National AI Plan sets the rules of the game for how this will evolve, across infrastructure, skills, investment and regulation.

Download National AI Plan

For real estate, this is not a niche technology document. It is a whole-of-economy roadmap that will influence office owners and franchise groups, proptech founders and everyday agents on the ground. The summary diagram on page 9 of the plan sets three overarching goals: capture AI opportunities, spread the benefits and keep Australians safe, with nine actions that sit under those headings.

The sections below unpack what that means in practice for three key stakeholder groups in the real estate sector.

1. Real Estate Business Owners and Operators

Specific policy signals to note

Several parts of the plan speak directly to issues that matter to agency principals, franchise groups and large operators:

• Scaling AI adoption in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) via the National AI Centre (NAIC), including the AI Adopt Program and tailored guidance to help smaller organisations introduce AI responsibly.

• Expansion of digital infrastructure, including upgrades to the NBN, satellite services and mobile coverage, intended to support AI use in regional and remote areas as well as cities.

• Workforce and workplace focus, with a strong emphasis on training, consultation with workers and unions, and ensuring workplace laws remain fit for purpose where AI tools are used in management or rostering.

• Responsible practices and transparency, supported by NAIC’s Guidance for AI Adoption and guidance on clearly labelling AI-generated content.

• Ongoing privacy and consumer law reform, aimed at keeping protections up to date with AI-enabled services.

The one-page summary on page 9 sets an ambition that by 2030, Australian businesses will be more competitive, workplaces will be fair and inclusive, and workers will be empowered by AI.

Practical impacts on agency operations

In the short term, business owners can expect:

• Easier access to structured guidance and templates for AI policies, risk assessments and internal governance through NAIC and business.gov.au. The plan specifically notes editable policy templates and simplified resources designed for smaller organisations.

• Growing expectations around staff consultation when introducing AI tools that affect workload, performance measurement or scheduling. The plan stresses that deploying AI in workplaces should involve meaningful consultation, transparency about data used and attention to psychosocial risks.

• Pressure to tighten data handling. Planned updates to privacy law are explicitly framed as a way to maintain trust in digital services while allowing beneficial use of personal information.

  
  

Over a longer horizon, strategic decisions will be shaped by:

• Regional competitiveness. Expansion of digital connectivity and initiatives to close digital inclusion gaps, particularly in regional communities, will make it easier for agencies in those markets to use AI-enabled tools to the same standard as metropolitan offices.

• Rising compliance expectations. As the AI Safety Institute (AISI) and sector regulators develop guidance on AI harms and accountability, owners will need to test the tools they deploy against emerging expectations of fairness, transparency and safety.

Opportunities and challenges

Opportunities

• Better connectivity and government-backed guidance lower the barrier to adopting AI for routine operational tasks such as marketing workflows, customer relationship management and performance insight.

• Workforce policies in the plan emphasise AI enhancing work rather than replacing it. This supports business models that use AI to free staff to focus on higher-value advisory and relationship-building activities.

Challenges

• Owners will need to scrutinise vendors more carefully. The plan takes a risk-based approach to harms and makes clear that all organisations deploying AI share responsibility for identifying and addressing risks.

• There is potential exposure if AI is used in ways that touch on discrimination, unfair treatment or misleading content, for example, in tenant screening, pricing or marketing. Consumer and workplace regulators are already considering AI use within their existing powers.

Actions to consider

• Establish or update an internal AI policy using NAIC templates as a starting point.

• Map where AI is already used in your business and identify any systems that affect hiring, performance or client outcomes.

• Plan for regular staff training on AI, including both capability building and rights awareness.

2. Property Technology Companies

Specific policy levers relevant to proptech

The plan is explicit about backing local AI capability and attracting investment:

• More than 460 million dollars in existing AI-related funding is identified, including research grants, graduate programmes, NAIC funding and the AI Adopt Program.

• A dedicated AI Accelerator funding round of the Cooperative Research Centres programme will support commercialisation of AI solutions through business and research partnerships.

• Significant broader investment vehicles can support AI-related projects, such as the National Reconstruction Fund and the Research and Development Tax Incentive, which has already recorded substantial AI-related business claims.

• The government is mapping compute capacity and supporting large-scale data centre investment, with national principles to guide sustainable growth and coordination with the energy system.

• Work is underway to unlock high-value datasets for AI training, including economic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and other non-sensitive government datasets, and to explore ways of working with industry on private sector data.

On the risk side, the establishment of the AISI, ongoing privacy reform, work on copyright and a suite of guidance on responsible practices set the regulatory context proptech firms will operate in.

Day-to-day and strategic impacts

In the near term, proptech companies can expect:

• More structured pathways for collaboration with researchers, especially through CRC arrangements that focus on practical, sector-specific AI solutions.

• Growing access to compute and cloud infrastructure in Australian data centres, which the plan positions as central to AI development and deployment.

• Clearer expectations on transparency and labelling of AI-generated content, as outlined in NAIC’s guidance on signalling AI use through labelling, watermarking and metadata.

Strategically, proptech firms will need to align with:

• Emerging safety and accountability norms informed by the AISI’s technical work on upstream model risks and downstream harms. While the plan does not prescribe sector specific rules for real estate, it does signal that high-level fairness and safety expectations will apply across industries.

• International standards and trade settings. The government intends to align domestic approaches with international norms to reduce friction for Australian businesses participating in global supply chains, an important factor for proptech products targeting offshore markets.

Opportunities and challenges

Opportunities

• New funding and collaboration mechanisms for AI innovation provide avenues for proptech firms to explore tools that use Australian training data, reflect local market conditions and integrate with government datasets where appropriate.

• Firms that build strong governance features into their platforms, such as audit trails, human in the loop controls and content transparency options, will be well placed as clients seek tools that help them comply with NAIC and regulator expectations.

Challenges

• The combination of privacy updates, copyright discussions and consumer law oversight will require careful design choices, particularly for products that ingest large volumes of property images, listings or behavioural data.

• As the plan emphasises Indigenous data sovereignty and the need for genuine engagement where First Nations data is involved, products that use geospatial, cultural or land data will need appropriate governance settings.

Actions to consider

• Review product roadmaps against the nine actions in the plan and identify where government funding or data access initiatives could support development.

• Build NAIC’s six essential practices for AI adoption into internal product development frameworks.

• Prepare for client questions about compliance by documenting data sources, model behaviour and safeguards clearly.

3. Individual Practising Agents

How the plan touches the individual professional

Most of the plan is written at system level, yet it has very direct implications for individual agents:

• The skills section highlights a need for both broad AI literacy and specialised expertise, supported by the vocational education system, TAFE delivered microcredentials and targeted initiatives such as the FSO Skills Accelerator for AI.

• Government-backed AI literacy programmes for the wider community, such as Digital Sisters: AI for Good, aim to build confidence in using AI tools in everyday life and work.

• The plan stresses that AI adoption in workplaces should protect workers’ privacy, address psychosocial risks and involve transparent communication about how algorithmic tools are used for task allocation, performance management or hiring.

• Work on online harms and deepfake material aims to reduce misuse of AI-generated content, something that can affect agents’ personal brands and marketing assets.

The ministers’ foreword makes a clear value statement that AI should enable workers’ talents, not replace them, and that secure, well-paid jobs are a central aim.

Practical impacts on daily work

In the short term:

• Agents are likely to see more training options that include AI content, whether through TAFE, industry bodies or employer programmes, and should treat AI literacy as part of their core professional skill set.

• Where offices introduce AI tools for allocating leads, monitoring communication or assessing performance, agents have a policy basis to ask for clear explanations, information on the data used and avenues to challenge outcomes.

• Guidance on being transparent about AI-generated content means agents should expect growing industry norms around labelling AI-authored copy, images or videos used in marketing.

Longer term, agents can anticipate:

• A shift in role emphasis toward advisory and relationship skills, with repetitive tasks increasingly supported by AI. The plan’s framing of AI as a way to enhance jobs, combined with investment in training, supports this direction rather than a simple replacement narrative.

• Higher expectations from clients, who will become more familiar with AI in other services and expect fast, data-informed responses in property transactions.

Opportunities and challenges

Opportunities

• Agents who actively build AI literacy will be better placed to use tools for market insight, document preparation and targeted communication, and to explain clearly to clients how those tools are used.

• Better digital connectivity, especially in regional areas, should make it easier for agents in those markets to offer service levels comparable with capital city competitors.

Challenges

• There is a risk of over-reliance on AI-generated outputs without sufficient human review. The plan repeatedly stresses the need for human oversight, particularly in public sector use, and the same principle applies to client-facing advice.

• Agents will need to protect their own privacy and well-being in environments where AI enabled monitoring or analytics are used, and should be engaged through consultation processes the plan expects employers to follow.

Actions to consider

• Seek out accredited AI-related training and microcredentials relevant to professional practice.

• Ask your office how AI tools are used in management decisions and what safeguards exist.

• Develop a personal practice of disclosing when AI has been used in client communications, even where not strictly required.

Shared Messages For The Whole Sector

Across these three groups, several consistent themes emerge from the National AI Plan:

1. AI use is expected, but not at any cost. The plan treats AI adoption as essential to productivity and competitiveness, including a specific ambition that by 2030 Australian businesses and workplaces will be thriving in an AI-enabled economy. At the same time, safety, fairness and inclusion are non-negotiable pillars.

2. Infrastructure and data are becoming strategic assets. Government-backed investment in data centres, connectivity and high-value data access will shape where and how advanced AI services can be delivered. Real estate organisations and proptech firms should treat access to secure compute and compliant data as a strategic concern, not just a technical detail.

3. Skills and worker voice sit at the centre. The plan puts workers, unions and training systems alongside technology and capital. Real estate leaders who mirror that emphasis, by involving staff in AI decisions and investing seriously in training, will be better aligned with policy direction.

4. Responsible practice will differentiate brands. With NAIC guidance, privacy reform and the AISI all pointing toward higher expectations of transparency and accountability, businesses that can demonstrate robust governance around AI will stand out to clients, partners and regulators.

5. Regional and inclusion outcomes matter. Many initiatives explicitly target regional communities, First Nations people, women and people with disability to ensure they share in AI benefits. Real estate strategies that consider these priorities will find it easier to align with funding and partnership opportunities.

Conclusion: A Policy Roadmap The Sector Cannot Ignore

The National AI Plan does not mention real estate by name, yet its combination of infrastructure investment, skills development, adoption support and risk management will quietly reshape the conditions under which every property transaction takes place. It sets expectations that AI will be used to lift productivity and service quality, that workers will be supported rather than discarded, and that safety and fairness will underpin innovation.

For business owners, proptech founders and practising agents, the message is clear. AI is moving from experimentation to a structured policy environment. Those who engage now with the plan’s actions, build transparent and responsible practices and invest in skills will be best positioned to thrive as Australia’s AI-enabled real estate market matures.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If you’re building a proptech solution with the potential to transform how we live, work, and invest in property, now is the time to move. REACH ANZ is looking for ambitious founders who want to scale smarter, grow faster, and join a global community of innovators shaping the future of real estate.

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About REACH Australia

and New Zealand

REACH Australia and New Zealand is part of the global REACH accelerator network powered by Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). The program is designed to scale the most promising property technology companies through education, mentorship, and market exposure.

Led by Managing Partner Peter Schravemade, REACH Australia and New Zealand supports high-growth startups shaping the future of real estate, finance, and the built environment. With deep ties across the local and global property ecosystem, the program offers founders unparalleled access to strategic partners, industry leaders, and international expansion opportunities.

For more information, visit www.reachanz.com