The Big Names at AREC 2025
Jun 2, 2025
The 2025 Australian Real Estate Conference (AREC) was packed full of familiar faces from across Australia’s Real Estate community and beyond. Adrian Oddi, co-director of BresicWhitney, Ray White Upper North Shore’s David Walker, Restauranteur Will Guidara, and UK podcaster and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett were amongst the star-studded roster of speakers. However, probably the most recognisable face of the weekend was familiar from somewhere entirely different.
Former US Vice President Kamala Harris included Australia’s biggest Real Estate conference on her recent trip to Australia, where she delivered a 90-minute session on power and purpose in dialogue with John McGrath, founder and CEO of McGrath Estate Agents and AREC. Harris was of course a big get for the conference, with her session attended by more than 4,000 agents. Rather than the speeches you might see on the news that are carefully crafted by a trained media team, her conversation with McGrath was candid and anecdotal. She covered a broad breadth of topics: from her childhood in California to her time as the state’s Attorney General and related experiences in negotiations and standing her ground.
Key to Ms. Harris’ conversation was acknowledging the struggle of first home buyers. She noted that she had focused on Gen Z and that “among the challenges that they face greater than any previous generation is the dream of home ownership – [it’s] one of the greatest challenges they face.” Though she touched on government policy and its relationship with the private sector, the core of her messaging was to empower the Agents in the room.
“You allow people to implement their dream of creating a place that is not only a symbol of their hard work, but an extension of their dignity,” Ms. Harris said, adding that the purchase of a property was for most “the most intricate and… significant financial arrangement they will ever be in.”
From this, she pivoted to addressing the early-career agents in the room with specific focus on ambition and backing yourself. She commented that she “[doesn’t] aspire to be humble, and I don’t recommend it.” While she joined the audience in laughter, she explained that she does not encourage others to shrink as a means of decentring themselves, but rather to expand their respect and empathy for others.
Success, according to Ms. Harris, comes from applauding ambition, curating your inner circle and “[eating] ‘no’ for breakfast.” She stated that early in a career it can be easy to allow rejection to leave you jaded, or discouraged, from chasing your ambitions. Her advice?
“Don’t you listen.”
Finishing off she stated: “Breaking barriers… When you break things, sometimes you get cut and sometimes you bleed. And it’s worth it every single time.”
AREC will return in late May next year.