The real estate landscape has shifted almost overnight. A combination of Federal Budget changes, tighter lending conditions and evolving market dynamics has rendered the old playbook obsolete, leaving investors, agencies and advisers searching for a new way forward.
For Josh Deckart, founder of Zapiio and one of the latest inductees into the REACH Australia and New Zealand Class of 2026, that shift exposes a much deeper problem than changing market conditions. He believes the industry has become so focused on completing the next transaction that it has lost sight of long-term strategy.
Backed by global PropTech capital and mentorship through REACH, Zapiio isn’t simply launching another piece of software. The platform aims to reshape property advice by introducing something Josh believes real estate has been missing: a genuine best interest duty that puts strategy ahead of sales.
The shift from transactions to transparency
According to Josh, the current property ecosystem encourages every professional to focus on a single part of the process rather than the client’s overall financial position.
“Real estate is transactional,” he says.
“The selling agent has something to sell, the conveyancer has a role, and the buyer’s agent is checking borrowing capacity to buy a deal.
“Nobody is actually looking full circle at what you already have because they are always looking at the next deal, and therein lies the problem.”
The result, he says, is that many investors unknowingly reach a ceiling. Rather than building wealth strategically, they become trapped by borrowing limits or poorly sequenced investment decisions because no one has mapped out where today’s purchase leads tomorrow.
That problem is becoming even more pronounced in today’s market.
“There are a lot of preconceived ideas of what people should do without really testing them or identifying what the right moves actually are,” Josh says.
“Without understanding the next step and the one after that, you’re likely not going to get to that last step.
“It is always about having the foresight to navigate the pathway as best you can to ensure that the step you are making next is correct. What worked twelve months ago just does not work anymore. If you’re not strategic, you don’t move forward.”
Rather than relying on assumptions, Zapiio uses scenario modelling to map multiple pathways before a client commits to their next investment. The software allows advisers to test strategies, compare outcomes and understand how one decision affects every move that follows.
“A good example is a lot of people are comparing residential versus commercial, particularly right now,” Josh says. “How does that materially change your outcome if you were to go and buy a residential or commercial?
Instead of discovering the consequences years later, clients can see them before a single dollar is invested.
The platform is designed for advisers rather than direct consumers, operating on a business-to-business-to-consumer model.
While investors have access to an easy-to-use portfolio dashboard, Zapiio’s real objective is to connect every professional involved in a client’s financial journey, from buyer’s agents and mortgage brokers to accountants and property managers, around one shared strategy.
Josh believes that approach also solves another challenge facing agencies: growth.
“People are always trying to acquire new business,” he says.
“They’re not looking at the thousand people they already have on their books.”
For property managers, in particular, that represents a significant opportunity. With industry churn estimated at between 23 and 35 per cent, Josh argues property managers are uniquely positioned because they already manage relationships with investors, yet rarely leverage that position strategically.
“Property managers to me are the only professionals in Australia that have all investors as clients,” he says.
“No one else looks at them like that; they just say it’s the person who organises a plumber to fix the toilet.
“Once you understand what the client owns holistically, you actually might be able to help them in ways you haven’t thought about. It really changes the conversation and ultimately decreases churn because people are rushing to sell now without actually knowing why they are selling.”
The same principle extends to mortgage brokers and buyer’s agents. Rather than conversations revolving around interest rates or the next available property, Josh says the focus becomes long-term portfolio optimisation.
“It is not an interest rate conversation anymore,” he says.
“It is actually a conversation around whether you realised that you could move some things around to achieve a better outcome.”
Likewise, buyer’s agents can step away from promoting individual properties and instead use objective modelling to demonstrate which asset class or investment pathway best suits the client’s long-term goals.
“I truly do believe that the ability to show all of these different pathways means someone is not being sold to,” Josh says.
“They are actually making a conscious decision to move themselves in the right direction.”
To support that vision, Zapiio is developing a centralised collaboration hub that enables advisers to communicate in a shared environment, ensuring every recommendation aligns with the client’s broader financial strategy.
But Josh says the ambition extends well beyond software. Zapiio is also finalising a joint venture that would integrate an Australian Financial Services Licence framework, opening the door for everyday investors to access syndicated investments in premium assets with lower capital requirements.
Ultimately, he believes the industry’s future depends on raising the standard of advice itself.
“You cannot put your commission in front of the client situation,” he says.
“I think that the best interest duty is something that needs to be in real estate.
“Applying that best interest duty to the strategy and the moves they need to make, above and beyond your own narrative, is the best thing that real estate needs.”
In a market where cash flow is tightening and transactions are becoming harder to secure, Josh believes the biggest opportunities may not lie in chasing the next listing, but in helping existing clients unlock the value already sitting within their portfolios.