Following the privatisation of Australia’s monopoly land titles platforms by our state governments, Australia’s largest bank – CBA – is hoping to take control of Australia’s monopoly electronic property transfer market. From The SMH:
The battle for ownership of the new e-transfer platform Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) is unfolding…
The e-conveyancing platform, at this stage a monopoly player in a country which annually turns over $300 billion in property transactions, is mooted to be worth between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion.
Australia’s two largest states are set to make e-conveyancing compulsory for all property title and mortgage transfers – shredding 150 years of paper title history this October in Victoria and by July next year in NSW.
But PEXA’s monopoly position has prompted the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s chief Rod Sims to warn it will investigate whether it can take action…
A successful bid by CBA will likely sharpen the focus of state and other regulators concerned about a monopoly environment…
PEXA will cross the $200 billion threshold in the value of property transactions settled on the platform this month. About 69 per cent of property transactions in Victoria were completed on the platform last week, with a total of 129,100 transfers conducted on the system nationally by the end of last month.
So, a privatised monopoly controlling an essential public service: property transfers. What could possibly go wrong?
Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?
