Perth's Property Listings Are Riddled With Duplicate Images — Here's What Happens Next

Western Australia's property market is facing an uncomfortable quality-control question: when the same photographs appear across multiple listings for different properties — sometimes suburbs apart — who is responsible for fixing it, and what are the consequences for buyers making decisions based on misleading imagery?

The issue has sharpened this year as Perth's housing demand continues to outpace supply, with properties in corridors like Baldivis, Ellenbrook and the inner-northern suburbs moving within days of listing. In a market where buyers routinely make offers sight-unseen or based on a Saturday morning scroll through realestate.com.au, a recycled kitchen photograph or a stock-image backyard can shift a decision worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

How the Problem Builds — and Where It Shows Up

Duplicate images in property advertising tend to emerge through a handful of routes. Agents occasionally reuse photography from a previous listing at the same address, sometimes without updating the shots after a renovation or tenant change. In other cases, stock images or images licensed through third-party photo services appear on multiple listings across entirely different streets. The most damaging version — and the one attracting the most scrutiny — involves images from one property appearing on an unrelated listing, either through error or deliberate misrepresentation.

Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, based on Havelock Street in West Perth, is the industry body with oversight responsibilities for agent conduct in the state. Consumer Protection WA, a division of the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, handles formal complaints about misleading advertising under the Australian Consumer Law. Neither body has publicly announced a specific enforcement action targeting duplicate imagery in the current market cycle, though Consumer Protection WA's existing framework already covers materially misleading property representations.

The practical burden of detection has largely fallen on the platforms themselves. Domain and REA Group — which operates realestate.com.au — both operate automated systems designed to flag duplicate content, though the thresholds and response protocols for those systems are not publicly disclosed. Property data firm CoreLogic, which supplies listing intelligence to banks and valuers across Australia, also maintains image-matching capability within its commercial products.

The Decisions Ahead for Agents, Buyers and Regulators

Several pressure points are now converging. Perth's median house price crossed $800,000 in late 2025 according to REIWA's published data, meaning the stakes attached to any single listing photograph are materially higher than they were three years ago. Buyers using the First Home Owner Grant — currently set at $10,000 for established homes under eligible thresholds in WA — are often the most time-pressured and least likely to arrange independent inspections before committing.

For real estate agencies, the immediate decision is procedural: whether to audit existing listings for image duplication before a complaint forces the issue. Agencies operating across high-turnover corridors such as Thornlie, Midland and the Metronet-adjacent suburbs around Morley and Noranda face the highest exposure, given the volume of listings cycling through those areas. Photography contractors who supply multiple agencies from a shared library are another vector worth examining.

For regulators, the key question is whether existing consumer law is being applied proactively or only after buyers raise formal complaints. Consumer Protection WA has the power to issue infringement notices and seek corrective advertising orders, but enforcement tends to be reactive. An earlier intervention framework — perhaps triggered when platforms detect duplication above a defined threshold — would require coordination between DEMIRS, the real estate industry bodies and the major listing portals.

Buyers navigating the market in the meantime have limited but practical options. Reverse image searches on individual listing photographs take under a minute and will surface duplicate appearances across other listings or websites. Requesting the original photography metadata — date-stamped EXIF data — from an agent is a legitimate ask before making an offer. And for any property where the images feel inconsistent with the suburb or street context, an independent pre-offer inspection remains the most reliable safeguard, regardless of how competitive the market feels on a given Saturday in Subiaco or Scarborough.