Wollongong Residents Speak Out as Duplicate Property Images Muddy the Housing Search

House-hunters in Wollongong are raising alarm about a growing problem on major real estate platforms: duplicate and outdated property images that bear little resemblance to what is actually on offer. With the Illawarra rental vacancy rate sitting well below the national average and purchase prices in suburbs like Fairy Meadow and Figtree holding above $900,000 for a median house, the stakes for getting accurate information have never been higher.

The issue — sometimes called duplicate image replacement, where a listing swaps in photos from a previous tenancy or a different property altogether — has drawn growing frustration from people attending open homes only to find interiors that look nothing like what was advertised online. Community Facebook groups tied to the Wollongong City Council area have seen dozens of posts on the subject in recent months, with members describing travel to inspections that turned out to be wasted trips.

A Problem With Real Costs

One Crown Street apartment block in the Wollongong CBD has been cited repeatedly in local renting forums as an example where listing photographs appear to have been recycled across multiple separate units, some of which differ significantly in layout and condition. Tenants who took leases based partly on those images have described discovering renovations that never happened, or appliances shown in photos that were removed before they moved in.

The Illawarra Legal Centre, which operates from Keira Street and provides free housing law advice, confirmed it has received inquiries relating to misrepresentation in property listings, though it does not publish a running case count. The centre's tenancy advice service is one of the few free resources available to low-income renters navigating disputes with landlords or agents in the region. Separately, the Tenants' Union of NSW has published guidance noting that misrepresentation in advertising can, in some circumstances, constitute a breach of Australian Consumer Law — a point that many local renters say they are unaware of at the time they sign a lease.

Real estate industry observers point to the sheer volume of turnover on platforms like realestate.com.au and Domain as a structural driver of the problem. When a property lists and relists multiple times across a calendar year — a common pattern in the current market — agencies do not always update image sets. NSW Fair Trading received more than 14,000 complaints related to real estate and property in the 2024–25 financial year, according to figures published by the agency, though the department does not break that figure down by complaint type at a regional level.

What Illawarra Renters and Buyers Are Doing About It

Community members have started circulating informal checklists in Wollongong neighbourhood groups, advising prospective tenants to cross-reference listing photos against Google Street View, request a virtual walk-through before committing to travel, and document any discrepancy between advertised and actual condition in writing to the agent before signing. The Wollongong branch of the Housing Action Collective, which meets periodically at venues in the Crown Street Mall precinct, has flagged the duplicate image issue as part of a broader push for mandatory photo-dating requirements on rental listings in NSW.

For buyers, the consequences can be more financially severe. A home advertised with images showing a renovated kitchen in a Corrimal property, for instance, may attract competitive offers that outpace what the actual condition warrants. Conveyancers operating in the region say independent building inspections — which typically run between $400 and $700 for a standard Wollongong dwelling — remain the most reliable safeguard, but that cost is prohibitive for many first-home buyers already stretching to meet a deposit.

NSW Fair Trading accepts complaints online and can investigate agents under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002. For renters who believe a listing materially misrepresented a property, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal is the formal avenue for seeking compensation — a process that the Illawarra Legal Centre can assist with at no cost to eligible clients. Appointments can be booked through the centre's Keira Street office or by phone.