Selling Off the Plan: The Developer's Guide to Pre-Sales, Channels and Disclosure (2026)

For residential developers, pre-sales are not just a marketing metric. They are a financing instrument, a risk management tool, and, in many cases, the condition that determines whether a project gets funded at all. This guide covers the pre-sales requirements lenders apply, what qualifies as a legitimate pre-sale, disclosure obligations across the key states, the main selling channels and their costs, and where buyers agent distribution fits within that landscape.

---

Why Pre-Sales Matter: The Finance Link

Construction finance in Australia has changed materially over the past decade. In the years before the global financial crisis, lenders typically required around 30% of stock to be pre-sold before releasing construction funding, according to BRI Ferrier. Today, major banks typically require qualifying pre-sales covering around 100% of the debt facility. Feasly's presales guide puts bank requirements at 100% to 120% debt cover, with non-bank lenders sitting at 0% to 50%.

Stamford Capital's 2026 Real Estate Debt Capital Markets Survey, reported by The Urban Developer and conducted across banks, second-tier banks, non-banks and private lenders from March to April 2026, found that 37% of construction lenders now require zero pre-sales. This is up from 29% in 2025 and 18% in 2023. The bracket requiring 60% to 100% pre-sale coverage has fallen from around 45% of lenders in 2021 to 8.1%. The same survey found that 62% of respondents expect major banks to increase their construction lending activity.

The picture this paints is a bifurcated market. Major banks remain demanding on pre-sales but are re-engaging with construction lending. Non-banks and private lenders have largely dropped pre-sale requirements, though this comes at a cost in rate and structure (see below). The right finance strategy depends on project scale, location, product type, and the developer's balance sheet. See pre-sales and construction finance in Australia for the lending mechanics in more detail.

Finance Cost Trade-Off

The decision to pursue bank finance or non-bank finance is not only about pre-sales. It also affects construction costs and approval timelines. Feasly cites bank construction rates of around 5.5% to 7.5% per annum, with approval timelines of 8 to 12 weeks. Non-bank rates run approximately 9.95% to 11.95% per annum, with approval timelines of 2 to 6 weeks.

Switchboard Finance notes that private lenders assess gross realisation value, project margin, and exit strategy rather than pre-sold contracts, and typically apply lower loan-to-value ratios to absorb the risk of proceeding without pre-sales. The rate premium on non-bank and private debt is partly compensation for this risk.

For many smaller to mid-size developers, the question is whether the cost of carrying that rate premium across the construction period is less than the cost (in time, margin, and risk) of running a full pre-sales campaign before construction commencement.

---

What Counts as a Qualifying Pre-Sale

Not every signed contract satisfies a lender's pre-sale requirements. Lenders commonly apply rules such as the following, as described in Feasly's presales guide:

• Deposits of 10%, non-refundable, held in trust as cash or a bank guarantee.
• Contracts that are unconditional (no subject-to-finance clauses) and at arm's length (not related-party sales).
• Sunset dates extending at least 9 to 12 months beyond forecast project completion.
• Limits on foreign purchasers (commonly around four per project) and restrictions on deposit bonds.
• Bulk purchases of more than two units per buyer generally do not qualify.
• Related-party sales (to associates, family members, or related entities) are non-qualifying.

These rules vary between lenders and will be specified in the term sheet. A developer running a pre-sales campaign for finance purposes should have the lender's qualifying criteria confirmed in writing before contracts are signed, to avoid the situation of presenting 20 contracts to the lender and being told that eight do not qualify.

---

Disclosure Obligations by State

Off-the-plan sales in Australia are regulated at state level. Disclosure requirements, sunset clause rules, and deposit protections differ significantly across NSW, VIC, and QLD.

New South Wales

From 1 December 2019, NSW requires a Disclosure Statement to be attached to an off-the-plan contract before signing. The Disclosure Statement must include a draft plan prepared by a registered surveyor (NSW Registrar General; NSW Government). Purchasers have the right to rescind if a change to the Disclosure Statement is materially prejudicial to them.

Deposits are held in trust and cannot be released to the developer before settlement. The cooling-off period for off-the-plan contracts in NSW is 10 business days, longer than the 5 business days that apply to established property sales.

Sunset clause protections under section 66ZL of the Conveyancing Act 1919 require a developer to give at least 28 days written notice before seeking to rescind an off-the-plan contract on sunset grounds. A developer can rescind only with every purchaser's written consent or by obtaining a Supreme Court order on a just and equitable test. Parties cannot contract out of these protections (Lawbridge; NSW Government).

Victoria

In Victoria, the off-the-plan contract deposit is capped at no more than 10% of the contract price. A prescribed warning notice must be given to purchasers before signing (Consumer Affairs Victoria). The default registration deadline is 18 months: if the plan of subdivision is not registered within that period, the purchaser can recover their deposit unless a longer period was agreed.

VIC sunset clause protections (Sale of Land Act 1962, as amended) follow a similar structure to NSW: a developer must give at least 28 days written notice and can rescind only with every purchaser's written consent or a Supreme Court of Victoria order (Irvine Lawyers).

Queensland

Queensland's position is more complex. From 22 November 2023, the Land Sales Act 1984 protections apply to off-the-plan land contracts (vacant land lots) but do not extend to community titles lots, which includes apartments and townhouses sold under a community titles scheme (QLD Department of Justice; Rose Litigation Lawyers; Empire Legal). A government review of extending these protections to community titles is underway. As at mid-2026, QLD's sunset clause protections for apartment and townhouse contracts remain in flux and the review outcome has not been finalised.

QLD disclosure requirements for community titles schemes include a disclosure statement and disclosure plan, a proposed community management statement and by-laws for the body corporate scheme, and a schedule of finishes (Search-X guide).

Developers operating in QLD should confirm the current state of the legislation with their solicitor before any contract is signed with a purchaser.

For a deeper treatment of sunset clause obligations and purchaser rights, see sunset clauses in off-the-plan contracts.

---

Selling Channels for Off-the-Plan Projects

A developer bringing a project to market has several selling channels available. Each carries different cost structures, reach, and risk profiles.

In-House Sales Team

Some developers, particularly larger operators with ongoing pipeline, employ in-house sales staff to manage contracts and purchaser relationships. This approach preserves margin but requires an established customer database, marketing infrastructure, and the capacity to carry the cost of an internal team across the sales campaign.

Project Marketing Agency

A project marketing agency manages the full sales campaign: display suite, brand, website, advertising, and sales staff. As Feasly notes, project marketing budgets commonly run between 1.25% and 2.5% of gross realisation value. Display suites range from $50,000 to over $2 million depending on the project scale. Staged releases with price steps of 2% to 5% between tranches are common.

Channel Sales Networks

Channel sales refers to the use of third-party agents and introducers who sell off-the-plan product to their own buyer clients for a commission. These networks can include offshore and onshore buyer's agents, migration agents, wealth managers, and property advisory firms.

There is a contested range in the market for channel sales commissions. Standard project-marketing commissions typically run 2% to 4% of the sale price, with channel sales and off-market networks commanding 6% or more in some arrangements, according to Feasly. Some consumer advocates claim total embedded sales-and-marketing costs reach 8% to 15% on some stock, though this figure is attributed to consumer-advocacy sources (such as Property Principles) and represents one end of the range rather than a typical outcome. One buyer-side site illustrates how embedding works in practice: a property worth $800,000 marketed at $840,000 to carry a $40,000 commission (Sydney Apartment Buyers). Commissions are generally paid at settlement, sometimes partly at exchange. Master agents coordinate channel partners and sub-agents and take a clip of each sale.

The key distinction in channel sales is whether commissions are disclosed to purchasers. Embedded commissions that inflate the purchase price create purchaser value concerns and, in some circumstances, disclosure obligations. Developers should confirm the disclosure position with their solicitor for each channel arrangement they enter.

Buyers Agent Distribution

Buyers agent distribution is structurally different from standard channel sales. Buyers agents represent purchasers, not the developer. Their job is to find suitable property for their clients, not to sell whatever the developer needs moved.

When a developer works with a distribution network, the developer pays a distribution fee to the network for connecting the project with buyers agents and facilitating the engagement. The buyers agents then put the opportunity to their own buyer clients who may be seeking exactly this product type, location, and price range. Because the buyers agents are working for the buyer rather than the developer, there is no embedded commission in the purchase price, and no conflict of interest for the purchaser.

AgentBridge operates as this kind of distribution network. See selling off-the-plan apartments through a buyers agent network and project marketing, channel sales and distribution compared for how the models sit alongside each other.

---

Staged Releases and Price Steps

A common sales strategy for larger off-the-plan projects is the staged release: rather than releasing all units at launch, the developer holds back a portion of the project and releases tranches over the course of the sales campaign.

Feasly cites price steps of 2% to 5% between tranches as standard practice. The logic is that early purchasers receive a modest discount for taking on more risk (committing to a project that has not yet broken ground), while later tranches reflect increased confidence in the project's delivery and any general price movement in the market.

Staged releases also benefit the developer's pre-sale counting: releasing a tranche provides an opportunity to accumulate qualifying contracts before moving to the next stage, with pricing adjusted to reflect demand.

---

Where AgentBridge Fits

AgentBridge distributes a project simultaneously to a national network of 80+ buyers agents rather than listing it with a project marketing agency or a single channel sales master agent. Every engagement includes national distribution, a professional property brief, desktop pricing guidance, and negotiation facilitation.

Distribution fees run roughly 30 to 40% below a traditional project marketing commission rate, on a sliding scale, charged as a distribution fee to the developer. Buyers agents are never charged a fee by AgentBridge, and the structure avoids the embedded-commission model that has attracted consumer scrutiny in the channel sales market.

For off-the-plan developers looking to reach active buyers agents with investor and owner-occupier clients in multiple markets, national distribution through AgentBridge provides a direct, transparent alternative to project marketing or offshore channel sales. See full details at /fees.

To discuss distributing your project through the AgentBridge network, visit /contact.

See also: the property distribution model for developers, selling off-the-plan apartments through a buyers agent network, and project marketing, channel sales and distribution compared.

---

General information only, not financial, legal or taxation advice. Speak to your own solicitor, accountant and adviser before acting on anything here.