Ray White leading with intent at PMC 2026

Addressing headwinds across Australia and New Zealand, including shifting tenant behaviours, landlord fee pressures, and market uncertainty, Zac emphasised that commercial resilience comes down to mindset and strategic response.

“There is a massive difference between having good intentions and acting with intention,” Zac told attendees. “We cannot control external market noise, but we have complete control over how we respond, the systems we build, and how we treat our clients.”

Highlighting the group's performance, Zac noted that despite broader industry pressures, every core Ray White property management metric grew year-on-year. He pointed to the network’s flagship Make the Move campaign, which generated $9 million in new asset value for business owners across a single 30-day period.

To drive long-term profitability and retention across the Australasian network, Zac unveiled several major group-wide rollouts.

Ray White is rolling out four initiatives to support property management businesses. The first is a purpose-built PM AI platform that takes care of daily admin, generates performance dashboards and lets PMs rehearse important investor conversations through roleplay.

The “Water Levels” Profit Project is a financial framework with more than a dozen unique asset & income growth strategies that helps businesses spot underperforming rent rolls and make them more profitable. Alongside this, the group is helping all its investors with Capital Gains Tax, a proactive advisory program that will help investors manage upcoming CGT valuation deadlines in Australia.

Leadership roundtables will also start in December, bringing targeted strategy sessions to every major metro market.

Zac concluded by urging the sector to ditch checklist-driven property management in favor of proactive, relationship-first partnerships.

“Routine inspections and rent collection are expected, they are not points of difference,” he said. “Decide right now what you want from this year. If you're going to be in, be all in.”

In a compelling address to delegates at PMC 2026, Ray White Head of Performance and Value Thomas McGlynn called on property managers to abandon complacency and actively lead the charge on rising industry standards. 

Acknowledging a grueling year of legislative upheaval and shifting market expectations, Thomas commended the network's resilience while warning that the sector's greatest threat comes not from PropTech or AI disruption, but from within.

“The greatest threat to tomorrow is what worked yesterday,” Thomas told the audience. “It is very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better. Our biggest challenge as a profession is whether we are obsessed with the relentless pursuit of mastery and executing the common things uncommonly well.”

Drawing on tennis great Roger Federer’s 2024 Dartmouth commencement address, where Federer revealed he won 80 per cent of his career matches despite winning just 54 per cent of points played, Thomas emphasised that the margin between good and great is a razor-thin 4 per cent. He urged managers not to be deterred by the gap to high performance, noting that small, intentional refinements in daily practice yield outsized results.

With renters making up nearly 30 per cent of the Australian population, Thomas challenged the room to "up the ante" on how both landlords and tenants are treated, cautioning that rising community and government expectations will lift the baseline regardless of who participates. Echoing design and marketing insights from Jony Ive and Seth Godin, he advocated simplifying processes to amplify impact rather than adopting novelty for its own sake.

“Standards rise whether you participate or not,” Thomas said. “You can raise the bar or wait for others to do it, but it’s getting raised regardless. It may as well be us leading that charge. Property management is a bloody good career, when you commit to mastery and refuse to settle for the familiar, you don’t just build a business, you change your life.”

Lauren Macpherson also gave a practical session on using AI to grow a rent roll. 

Rory Sommerville of Ray White Bendigo shared four tools that save time, sharpen the pitch and help property managers turn more conversations into new managements.

“AI won’t win you a management on its own. It gives you back the time to go and win it yourself,” Lauren said.

“Rory isn’t talking about the future. He’s using these tools in his business right now, and everything he shows you can be up and running by Monday. Most offices are sitting on more leads than they realise. AI is just a faster way of finding them and following them up.

“The property managers who learn these tools now will be the ones rental providers call first.”

Ray White Townsville Property Management team leader Amanda Carr’s session was titled ‘Fall in Love with PM in 30 mins’.

Amanda shared tips, strategies and lessons she has learnt in her 40-year career and from leading a team of 22.   

“Let’s get back to basics, forget the jargon and keep it simple - develop some good habits to ensure you love your job, even when you are having a bad day,” she said.

Property Management Network specialist Jamie-Lee Billerwell discussed exploring practical strategies to generate new managements, strengthen client relationships and unlock sustainable growth through smarter prospecting, stronger conversations and a fresh approach to business development.

Jamie told the audience that there is no Ozempic to prospecting.

“You are not avoiding the act of prospecting, you are avoiding the feeling it gives you,” she said.

“BDMs aren't avoiding the phone calls - they're avoiding the feeling of rejection and boredom that comes with them, which is why protecting a non-negotiable two-hour prospecting block every Monday morning is the key to winning the week,” she said.

“Stop asking investors how they're getting on with their current managing agent and start asking what's keeping them awake at night; you have to shift from being a transactional BDM to a genuine Investment Portfolio specialist.”

She ended her session with a live role play involving audience members.

NZ Property Management Operations & Performance Executive Matte Srhoj said silence doesn't save you time - it creates work. 

“Sometimes the next call can be the landlord saying they are going with someone else.

Silence is extensive,” he told the audience. 

“We worry that we will be disliked about delivering bad news, and we don’t want to upset the client.”

Most conflict starts in the gap between when we knew and when we told them, he said.

“People usually don’t get upset when something goes wrong, you just need to be the property manager that doesn't leave people waiting.”

Agency leaders often obsess over chasing cold leads, yet as Joe Shannon from The Efficiency Co points out, the most powerful growth is already sitting inside the office. 

Tapping into current owners for repeat business and capturing cross-department leads from your sales team delivers far higher returns than relying solely on BDMs. 

Joe said, ultimately, true momentum isn't about running on an expensive acquisition treadmill, but plugging the back-door leaks to retain the managements you have already earned. 

Ray White Head of Media Alex Tilbury reminded all the property managers to document everything. “Keep a dated record of every conversation with tenants and owners. If the media calls, your notes are our best defence. And remember that anyone with a phone can go viral. Always be professional, empathetic and always respectful.”

Rachael Rudd, Ray White Property Management Network Specialist, told the audience to know their worth.

In her session ‘The Fee Fight’, she said knowledge turns a price conversation into a value conversation.

“If you can’t say what makes you different in one sentence, the landlord will decide its price, Rachael said.

“Nail your superpowers.”