Australia’s management rights sector is worth an estimated $8 billion, $3.2 billion more than originally thought, according to ResortBrokers Research’s recently released annual industry report.

ResortBrokers Research’s Management Rights Report 2023 builds on its inaugural 2022 report, which was the first ever quantitative analysis of Australia’s management rights sector. Last year’s report estimated the value of the industry at $4.8 billion.

For this year’s report, ResortBrokers Research surveyed over 400 management rights operators across Australia with the assistance of the Australian Resident Accommodation Managers Association (ARAMA), the national peak body for the management rights industry.

ResortBrokers Research also analysed management rights sales data of its own, as well as sales data provided by the two leading management rights valuers in the industry, AccomValuers and Australian Valuers.

ResortBrokers Research is the research arm of ResortBrokers, Australia’s largest and most experienced specialist agency in the accommodation property sector. ResortBrokers dominates Australia’s management rights market handling over 45 per cent of sales transactions across the sector.

Head of ResortBrokers Research, Property Economist Josh Mangleson, says he wasn’t surprised by the sizeable increase in the value of the industry given the expanded data set.

“Thanks to our three new data partners, ARAMA, AccomValuers and Australian Valuers, we now have a more statistically reliable sample size than that used for our inaugural report,” says Mangleson.

“The buy-in from our data partners, as well as the expansion of our own research competences, means we are now able to provide a more granular picture of the management rights sector nationally.”

Another key finding is the exceptionally high top-up rate of caretaking agreements by bodies corporate.

“The high top-up rate suggests there’s widespread satisfaction with managers’ performance and the management rights business model,” says Mangleson. “If lot owners were unsatisfied with their caretakers, we wouldn’t be seeing the top-up rate so high.”