Is property sales data falls under Freedom of Information Act 1982?

Hi everyone,

NSW Government is awesome. They publish a very detailed property sales here ( data https://valuation.property.nsw.gov.au/embed/propertySalesInformation ) so we can perform a very detailed analysis the way we want. The data is raw and in terrible format, but it is there for everyone who wants it. Obviously, there is no personal information included. Just addresses, dates and prices. This is enough to calculate medians and averages.

How about the other states?

I have contacted the responsible QLD authorities (QVAS) and they offer this kind of data for over $15k a year! Not sure about the other states, but I couldn't immediately find any raw data.

Then, there is this Freedom of Information act which theoretically should help us get the similar data for all the Australian states. Do you guys think if worth an effort to lodge a request to get the property sales data released?

Is it fair to charge the public to access the raw data? I completely understand when data resellers are cleaning and enriching data to sell it as a value added product. But paying our state governments to extract data feels a bit like North Korea.

Thank you,
Victor

 

No.

Property data is public information available through the contracted agent for a fee. It is sold so FOI isnt covered and if it were you would be paying a extortionate fee for a public servant to do what you could do yourself. The national provider is Corelogic (former RP Data) and they offer subscription based services that use the data for analysis by Commonwealth and state agencies and councils...and the public incl business.

Nothing like north korea. The State Govt isnt in the business of selling data and why you were quote a high number. They USE data for all sorts of planning and financial projection purposes and allow the services provider to sell it and in return they get free use of the data given to thm ...to sell. Very commercial and arms length.

Subscriptions vary with what you are looking for. Perhaps $440 a year and up....

CoreLogic | Property Data Reports & Analytics Online - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra & Hobart

 

Thank you for reply Paul.

CoreLogic is a commercial organisation. I believe they do have the data. I understand they are not in an obligation to share it.

Valuer General is a part of the Government. They also have the data. The property sales data is not considered a private information. It only contain addresses, dates and price. Therefore, it should be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act.

Of all the states, only the NSW is effectively providing access. If it is available in NSW, why would the other states be so opposed to sharing it?

How awesome would it be to able do download your postcode sales?

 

As mentioned by @Paul@PFI, this data should be available from each state and territory, but usually as some form for fee-for-service model, and as such is not FOI-able. But from my experience with FOIs this would cost a MONSTER (and I don't think you would get it in the dataset structure you would want it in for your purposes).

 

Thank you for your reply.

If NSW was able to deliver, other states must follow.

May I ask what was your experience with FOI requests? Was it anything similar?

 

I think 'must follow' is a bit strong, 'should follow' maybe.

Nah my experience is nothing similar to your potential request. I had a stint doing FOI requests when I was in the a government grad program.