Neville Pozzi celebrates 45 years at REIWA

21 February 2022

"Neville Pozzi is celebrating 45 years of employment at the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia. "

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Neville Pozzi is celebrating 45 years of employment at the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia.

Mr Pozzi is the Institute’s longest-serving employee, having started his career at REIWA in 1977 as an Accountant.

He has held the positions of Manager of Finance and Administration, Deputy Executive Director, General Manager of Operations and Chief Financial Officer during his time at the Institute, before being appointed as CEO in 2012.

The digital revolution

In the last 45 years, Mr Pozzi has observed numerous highs and lows within Western Australian real estate and has played a pivotal role in helping REIWA adapt to the technological advances brought about by the digital age.

“The internet changed everything. It removed a lot of the barriers to information and empowered the WA public to be more informed about real estate than they ever were before,” Mr Pozzi said.

“Where market information was once solely supplied by real estate agents, people can now go online and do a lot of that research themselves.”

Despite this change, Mr Pozzi believes the role of the real estate agent is as important as ever.

“The key role of the real estate agent, which is to objectively oversee transactions, has not changed in more than a century.

“Technological advances have changed how transactions are executed, but the fundamentals of what a real estate agent does is still critical in ensuring a successful transaction and managing the subjective expectations of buyers and vendors,” he said.

COVID-19's impact on real estate

More recently, the COVID-19 global pandemic has brought about its own unique set of challenges and changes for the industry.

“When the pandemic hit, we were deeply concerned the impact to the WA real estate market would be catastrophic, especially as we had just seen signs of emerging from the downturn. Thankfully though, the opposite happened. Demand for property built-up during lockdown and once our fears were allayed; the market picked up and it hasn’t looked back since,” Mr Pozzi said.

“I think the pandemic has illustrated that no matter the circumstance, housing remains a fundamental requirement of our society and demand for property will always be there.

“It also showed how resilient and adaptable the real estate industry is. Agents had to pivot quickly and lean into online technologies, like virtual walkthroughs, electronic signature software and online transactional systems, to adapt to the new environment and achieve sales for their vendors.”

The future of WA real estate

As for where he sees the future of real estate, Mr Pozzi believes real estate transactions will continue to move towards online efficiencies.

“I think COVID-19 has really accelerated the need for more technological processes in real estate. This technology certainly will not replace the requirement for a real estate agent, but it will ensure the industry continues to implement efficiencies that make buying, selling, renting and investing in WA as seamless as possible.

“The challenge will be to recognise trends before they occur and make sure the right technology is adopted and used by the industry," he said.

Mr Pozzi will be retiring this year, with Cath Hart recently appointed as CEO from 2 May 2022.