Record-breaking US luxury agents to lead high-level real estate summit
From record-breaking US agents to leadership strategists, AREC 2026 is positioning itself as a must-attend event for ambitious property professionals.
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Some of the world’s most recognisable names in luxury real estate will headline this year’s Australasian Real Estate Conference (AREC), as organisers sharpen the event’s focus on practical skills, performance and long-term growth.
Scheduled for May 24 and 25 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, AREC 2026 will bring together high-profile agents, business leaders and performance mentors at a time organisers describe as one of its most complex market environments in recent memory.
Izzy Savva, Head of Total Real Estate Training, says the program has been shaped by feedback from agents seeking guidance on how to stay competitive amid ongoing change.
“After listening closely to agents in this current market, it became clear that now is the time to focus on the fundamentals — the core skills that build sustainable careers,” she said.
“AREC is designed to focus on what really drives success in real estate: client relationships, negotiation, listing mastery, and personal growth.”
Among the headline speakers are internationally renowned US agents Josh Altman and Josh Flagg, known globally through Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles.
Both have built careers representing some of California’s most prestigious homes and have collectively transacted billions of dollars in property.
Flagg will appear in a Q&A session with AREC founder John McGrath, offering insights into reputation-driven business, marketing and client relationships.
Altman, who has sold more than $9 billion in real estate during his career, is recognised for consistently achieving record-setting results in highly competitive luxury markets.
They will be joined by Tim Smith of Coldwell Banker’s Tim Smith Real Estate Group, who has achieved more than $6 billion in sales and built a reputation for strategic marketing and negotiation expertise across Orange County’s sought-after coastal communities.
Beyond sales performance, AREC 2026 will also explore the mindset and leadership skills required to succeed at the top end of the market.
Performance strategist Phill Nosworthy, leadership expert Holly Ransom and high-performance mentor Ben Crowe are among the confirmed speakers, alongside Harvard Business School professor Alison Wood Brooks, whose research focuses on negotiation and communication in high-stakes environments.
Entrepreneur and endurance athlete Jesse Itzler will also join the program virtually, bringing insights from his experience building and scaling global businesses.
According to John McGrath, the event is designed to deliver more than inspiration.
“The real estate industry is facing challenges like never before, and agents need to sharpen the fundamentals while embracing new growth opportunities,” he said.
“AREC is exactly the kind of event that helps our industry step back, reflect, and come away with strategies they can implement immediately.”
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After half a century in the same hands, The Palladium blends Art Deco heritage, cinematic history and beachfront living in one extraordinary offering.
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In Sydney’s Northern Beaches, there are plenty of homes with a multimillion-dollar view and an enviable position close to the sand.
This unique listing has all that, but it has also earned its page in the local history books.
After 50 years in the same hands, The Palladium in Palm Beach—once a famed dance hall, then a restaurant, a private residence, and an artists’ studio—is now back on the market with a price hopes of $13.5 million through BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach.
Positioned in a rare corner spot where Ocean Rd meets Palm Beach Rd, The Palladium has been front and centre observing the famous sandy stretch for almost a century.
Built in the early 1930s, the Art Deco building was originally conceived as a vibrant community dance hall; the “it” place to be for young folk during Sydney’s thriving interwar period.
Often the dances were held to raise money for the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club, and newspaper reports of the time told of rowdy parties lasting until the early hours, bootleg liquor arrests, and where shorts and sandals—or even pyjamas—were scandalously worn by “both sexes”.
Over the decades, The Palladium has worn many hats.
By 1943, the original owner, Joseph Henry Graham, had defaulted on his loan, and a mortgagee sale reportedly sold the building for £1550, which translates to about $137,000 today. It later became a dining space and a general store run by the Milton family. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the property was also home to the Blue Pacific Restaurant.
The current owners acquired the keys in 1976 when it began its next chapter as a creative hub. One of today’s vendors, filmmaker David Elfick, who has been a filmmaker and producer on such films as Newsfront and Rabbit-Proof Fence, has told stories of a free-spirited creative hub that has been used for film sets, to store numerous movie props, as editing rooms, to hold countless parties and has even hosted visiting members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
From its famed beachside soirees to its grassroots film club nights, the venue has become woven into the cultural fabric of Palm Beach.
Today, that rich history has been reimagined into a coastal home that honours its past while embracing contemporary beachside living.
Built in a unique architectural style known as streamline moderne, the aeroplane hangar-like building reflects the era’s fascination with air travel, mass transport, and modernity. The facade is defined by a sweeping curved roofline and subtle nautical cues.
The main residence features a vast central living space framed by a number of bedrooms and sunrooms, as well as a front dining room and kitchen. In total, there are four to five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a powder room adjoining an upstairs loft space.
Big, broad windows draw in loads of natural light and provide iconic views, plus the sounds of the beach just across the road.
Many of the original elements remain, most fittingly the polished floors of the former dance hall. In the additional building at the back of the block, there is a separate, self-contained studio with its own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and laundry. From its elevated deck, the outlook stretches across the full sweep of Palm Beach.
Outside, the expansive 1151sq m land parcel also features established gardens with veggie patches and standalone decks for quiet contemplation.
Sitting just across the road from the beach, the property is also within walking distance of local cafes and the surf club. Palm Beach Rock Pool is at one end of the beach, with the Palm Beach Golf Club and the water airport at the other end of the peninsula.
The Palladium and Palm Beach Studio at 16 Ocean Rd, Palm Beach are listed with BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach via a private treaty campaign with a price guide of $13.5 million.
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