Where Are Australia's Highest-Earning Agents Actually Located?

Author: Kent Lardner Date: February 2026 Category: Commission Intelligence

The conventional wisdom in Australian real estate recruitment is straightforward: the best agents are in Sydney's eastern suburbs, Melbourne's inner ring, and the Gold Coast. There is some truth to that. But when you map estimated commission output across all 88 SA4 regions nationally, the picture is considerably more nuanced — and the assumptions that drive most recruitment strategies start to look incomplete.

Over the November 2025 to January 2026 quarter, Australian real estate generated an estimated $2.07 billion in potential commissions across 112,535 active listings tracked to 33,182 agents. This analysis uses that dataset to identify where commission earnings are actually concentrated, which markets generate the highest returns per transaction, and where the top individual producers are operating.

The national picture: Victoria leads on volume, NSW leads on value

New South Wales generated the largest estimated commission pool at $630 million from 29,664 listings — roughly 30% of the national total. Victoria was close behind at $614 million, but required 36,021 listings to get there. Queensland added $423 million, Western Australia $196 million, and South Australia $118 million.

The smaller jurisdictions are worth noting for their relative scale. Tasmania generated $44 million from just 2,979 listings, the ACT produced $35 million from 2,060 listings, and the Northern Territory contributed $5.7 million from 430 listings.

The ratio between these figures tells a recruitment story. Victoria needs 21% more listings than NSW to generate roughly the same commission pool. That's a function of median price difference: NSW's commission-per-listing average is materially higher because the state's median sale prices are steeper. For recruitment teams operating nationally, this means an agent producing 30 listings per year in Sydney is generating substantially more estimated commission than an agent producing 30 listings per year in Melbourne's western suburbs.

The top 15 commission pools in Australia

The 15 largest SA4 regions by estimated quarterly commissions account for $764 million — more than a third of the national total.

The Gold Coast sits at the top of the national table with an estimated $81.0 million in quarterly commissions. This is driven by a combination of volume (3,538 listings) and a median listing price of $1.15 million. With 1,231 tracked agents, the Gold Coast is also one of the most agent-dense markets in the country.

Melbourne's western suburbs rank second at $79.9 million, but the character of this market is entirely different. With 5,262 listings and a median price of just $679,000, this is a high-turnover, moderate-price market where individual commissions per listing ($15,192) are among the lowest in the top 15. Volume is everything here.

Melbourne South East ($74.5 million), Melbourne Inner ($62.8 million), and the Sunshine Coast ($46.3 million) round out the top five. Each has a distinct commission profile: the Sunshine Coast generates $22,194 per listing at a $1.13 million median — close to the Gold Coast's efficiency — while Melbourne Inner generates $17,900 per listing with heavy apartment stock diluting the median.

Sydney's first appearance in the national top 15 comes at eighth place: North Sydney and Hornsby at $42.1 million. But at $31,090 per listing, it is the most efficient market in the top 15 by a significant margin — generating far more commission per transaction than higher-ranked regions that depend on volume.

Where each dollar goes furthest: commission per listing

If total pool size measures the size of the opportunity, commission per listing measures the quality. This metric answers a different question for recruitment teams: in which markets do productive agents earn the most per transaction?

The answer is unambiguous. Seven of the top 10 markets nationally for commission per listing are in Sydney.

The Eastern Suburbs leads at $38,398 per listing — a figure that reflects a median listing price of $1.93 million and the premium end of the commission tier structure. The Northern Beaches follows at $33,582, then North Sydney and Hornsby at $31,090. Sydney's Inner West ($28,396), Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury ($27,672), Sutherland ($27,137), and Ryde ($25,953) complete the Sydney dominance of this metric.

The only non-Sydney entries in the top 10 are Melbourne Inner East ($23,913) and Melbourne Inner South ($23,390).

This has a direct implication for recruitment economics. An agent handling 20 transactions per quarter in the Eastern Suburbs is generating an estimated $768,000 in commissions. An agent handling 20 transactions in Melbourne West is generating $304,000. The talent might be equivalent. The market determines the return.

Australia's highest-earning individual agents

The estimated top producer nationally for the quarter operates in Sydney's South West, with an estimated $3.23 million in quarterly commissions. That figure — derived from listing volume and the tiered commission model — represents 9.3% of the entire South West Sydney commission pool. It is, by a substantial margin, the highest individual concentration in any major metro SA4 in the country.

The second-ranked producer operates in the Eastern Suburbs at $1.82 million. Third place sits in Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury at $1.35 million, followed by Melbourne South East ($1.31 million) and the Mornington Peninsula ($1.20 million).

Ten agents nationally exceeded $1 million in estimated quarterly commissions. They are spread across five SA4 regions in two states — NSW and Victoria — which reinforces the geographic concentration of premium earning power in Australia's two largest metro markets.

Notably, no Queensland agent appears in the top 10 nationally despite the Gold Coast ranking as the largest commission pool in the country. The Gold Coast's $81 million is distributed across 1,231 agents, with the top producer generating an estimated $636,070 — substantial, but less than half of the national leader. This is a market where earnings are broadly distributed rather than individually concentrated.

Where markets are most competitive — and most vulnerable

Agent density — measured as listings per agent — reveals which markets are oversupplied with agents relative to available stock. The most competitive major markets nationally are Sydney's Inner West (2.1 listings per agent), Sydney City and Inner South (2.2), Perth Inner (2.2), Brisbane Inner City (2.2), and Brisbane South (2.2).

In these markets, individual agents are competing for a thin slice of available listings. Earnings are diluted unless an agent can win mandates at a rate well above the market average. For recruitment teams, highly competitive markets require a different approach: the target is not agents with large listing portfolios (few exist) but agents who convert a high percentage of available stock in their SA2 patch.

At the other end of the spectrum, markets with higher listings-per-agent ratios represent opportunity for incoming agents. Regional SA4s, parts of Tasmania, and some outer-metro corridors have ratios above 5.0 — meaning there is more stock per agent and potentially less competition for mandates.

What concentration ratios reveal about market vulnerability

The top agent's share of their regional commission pool is a proxy for market vulnerability. Where one or two agents capture a large percentage of available commissions, the market is structurally dependent on their continued presence — and structurally exposed if they leave.

In Sydney's South West, the top agent captures 9.3% of the pool. In the Eastern Suburbs, it's 6.3%. In the Inner West, 5.1%. These are high-concentration markets where a single departure could meaningfully shift the competitive landscape.

By contrast, markets like Melbourne Inner (where the top agent holds 0.9%), Melbourne West (1.3%), and Sydney's City and Inner South (2.0%) have broadly distributed earnings. No single agent's departure would materially affect the regional picture. These are stable but hard to disrupt through recruitment.

For groups looking to enter a new market or strengthen an existing office, concentration data provides a strategic filter. High-concentration markets offer the possibility of a transformative hire. Low-concentration markets require building a team rather than landing a star.

The recruitment implications

This national analysis reveals three structural patterns that should inform how recruitment teams allocate effort.

Commission pools and commission efficiency are different metrics — and both matter. The Gold Coast and Melbourne West have the largest pools nationally, but Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Northern Beaches generate nearly double the commission per transaction. A recruitment strategy anchored purely on pool size would overweight volume markets and underweight premium markets where individual agent earnings are substantially higher.

Geographic concentration of top earners is extreme. All 10 agents who exceeded $1 million in estimated quarterly commissions operate in either Sydney or Melbourne. No Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, or regional agent appears in that cohort. This doesn't mean top performers don't exist elsewhere — it means the commission structures in those markets make it harder for any individual to reach the same absolute earnings from listing activity alone.

The most competitive markets are the inner-city rings of every capital. Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney all have inner-city SA4s where agent-to-listing ratios sit at 2.2 or below. Recruitment in these markets is fundamentally different from recruitment in outer-metro or regional SA4s where an agent can build a dominant position with less competition.

Looking deeper

The SA4-level view is the starting point. Within every one of these 88 regions, the SA2-level data reveals suburbs where commission density, agent rankings, and listing momentum tell a more specific story. The national map on our homepage lets you hover any region and see the headline numbers. The full intelligence — every agent ranked, every SA2 mapped — is available as a structured dataset.

This analysis is based on commission estimates derived from active listing data for the November 2025 to January 2026 quarter. Commissions are modelled using a tiered percentage structure applied to listing prices, with median-by-bedroom imputation where prices were withheld. Data is refreshed weekly.

Explore the national map and see commission pools across all 88 SA4 regions at suburbtrends.com. For the full dataset — every agent ranked, every SA2 mapped — Talk to Kent →