PHOTO: AREC 2026
The Australasian Real Estate Conference (AREC) is returning to the Gold Coast in 2026 — and once again the event is shaping up as one of the largest, most influential and highest-profile gatherings in the real estate industry globally 🌏
Held across:
📅 24–25 May 2026
at the:
📍 Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
AREC 2026 is expected to attract thousands of agents, principals, property marketers, mortgage professionals, business owners and industry suppliers from across Australia and New Zealand.
🎤 WHAT IS AREC?
Founded by Australian real estate heavyweight:
👤 John McGrath
AREC has become known as the:
🔥 “Greatest real estate event on the planet.”
The conference combines:
✔ High-profile keynote speakers
✔ Elite agent panels
✔ Marketing strategies
✔ AI & technology insights
✔ Leadership coaching
✔ Networking opportunities
✔ Luxury real estate trends
✔ Prospecting & negotiation training
into a massive two-day event focused on helping agents and agencies grow in rapidly changing markets.
🌍 BIG-NAME INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS HEADLINING
One of the major reasons AREC has become such a global drawcard is its ability to attract internationally recognised speakers from both inside and outside real estate.
Among the major headline names announced for 2026 are:
🎤 👤 Josh Altman
🎤 👤 Josh Flagg
— stars of:
📺 Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles
Both are regarded as elite luxury agents in the United States property market.
Josh Altman alone has reportedly sold more than:
💰 USD $9 BILLION worth of real estate
throughout his career.
Josh Altman will headline AREC 2026.
🏆 TOP AUSTRALIAN & NZ AGENTS TAKING THE STAGE
AREC 2026 will also feature some of Australasia’s highest-performing agents and business leaders.
Speaker lineups include major industry names such as:
🏡 👤 Vivien Yap
🏡 👤 Alex Jordan
🏡 👤 Michael Kollosche
🏡 👤 Will Torres
🏡 👤 Nicholas Dunn
with New Zealand agents and agencies also heavily represented.
The event increasingly acts as a cross-Tasman showcase of:
✔ Personal branding
✔ Listing strategies
✔ Luxury marketing
✔ Team building
✔ Social media growth
✔ Prospecting systems
✔ High-performance culture
Josh Flagg. AREC 2026.
🤖 AI, VIDEO & DIGITAL MARKETING NOW DOMINATING DISCUSSIONS
One of the biggest themes expected to dominate AREC 2026 is the rapid digital transformation happening inside the real estate industry.
Key topics expected to feature heavily include:
🎥 Video-first property marketing
🤖 Artificial intelligence
📱 Social media branding
📊 Data-driven prospecting
🏡 AI-powered lead generation
🎯 CRM automation
📹 Short-form content creation
The modern real estate agent is increasingly expected to function as:
✔ A content creator
✔ Personal brand
✔ Digital marketer
✔ Negotiator
✔ Influencer
—not simply a salesperson.
AREC founder and director John McGrath.
📉 TOUGHER PROPERTY MARKETS CHANGING THE CONVERSATION
Unlike the Covid boom years, AREC 2026 arrives during a far more difficult market cycle across both Australia and New Zealand.
Current challenges include:
📈 Higher interest rates
📉 Slower property sales
💸 Mortgage stress
🏗 Development pressure
🏠 Affordability concerns
📊 Increased vendor competition
As a result, many AREC sessions are expected to focus heavily on:
✔ Fundamentals
✔ Listing conversion
✔ Vendor management
✔ Negotiation skills
✔ Market adaptability
✔ Long-term business resilience
Leading Gold Coast agent Michael Kollosche will speak at AREC 2026.
🏡 THE BUSINESS OF REAL ESTATE HAS CHANGED
One major shift becoming increasingly obvious at AREC events is how real estate itself has evolved into a highly sophisticated business and media industry.
Today’s top-performing agents are now often:
📱 Massive social media creators
🎥 Video marketers
🏆 Brand personalities
💰 Business owners
📈 Team leaders
with some operating businesses worth many millions of dollars annually.
🇳🇿 WHY NZ AGENTS KEEP ATTENDING
New Zealand agents continue to attend AREC in large numbers every year.
The appeal includes:
✔ Learning from elite performers
✔ Exposure to international trends
✔ Networking opportunities
✔ Technology insights
✔ Marketing ideas
✔ Motivation & business growth
Many NZ agencies now model parts of their:
📹 Video marketing
📲 Social media strategy
🏡 Luxury branding
🎯 Lead generation systems
on trends emerging from major Australian real estate conferences like AREC.
🧠 PERSONAL BRANDING NOW BECOMING EVERYTHING
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from recent AREC conferences is how critical personal branding has become in modern real estate.
Top-performing agents increasingly compete on:
✔ Visibility
✔ Trust
✔ Video presence
✔ Community profile
✔ Digital engagement
✔ Lifestyle branding
rather than simply local market share alone.
👀 THE GOLD COAST BECOMES THE INDUSTRY CAPITAL
Each year during AREC, the Gold Coast effectively becomes the temporary capital of Australasian real estate.
Thousands of industry professionals flood into the city for:
🍸 Networking events
🎤 Speaker sessions
🏖 Social functions
🏡 Property showcases
🤝 Business deals
creating one of the biggest property industry gatherings in the Southern Hemisphere.
🔥 THE BOTTOM LINE
AREC 2026 is shaping up to be another massive event for the Australasian real estate industry.
💥 Billion-dollar agents
💥 AI-driven property marketing
💥 Social media dominance
💥 Luxury real estate trends
💥 Elite prospecting strategies
💥 High-performance business growth
And as the property industry rapidly evolves…
🏡 AREC is increasingly becoming the place where agents go to learn what the future of real estate looks like.