Wrong House, Wrong Street: Central Coast Residents Speak Out on Duplicate Property Listing Images

At least a dozen complaints have been lodged with real estate agencies across the Central Coast since January over property listings that feature photos belonging to the wrong address — a problem residents describe as not just annoying but, in a stretched housing market, genuinely harmful. Community members in suburbs from Woy Woy to Wyong say they have turned up to inspections only to find a property that looks nothing like what was advertised online.

The issue has drawn new attention this week as Sydney records its hottest June in 167 years, a reminder of how aggressively people are seeking to relocate from the city to the coast. That migration pressure is squeezing the Central Coast's rental vacancy rate and pushing buyers to make faster decisions — often based entirely on listing photographs before they can physically attend an open home. When those photos are wrong, the consequences are not trivial.

What Locals Are Describing

Several residents who contacted The Daily Central Coast described a consistent pattern: a listing appears on a major property portal showing a tidy, well-lit home with a covered deck or renovated kitchen. They apply or register for an inspection, sometimes taking time off work. On arrival — at addresses on Donnison Street in Gosford or along The Entrance Road — they find a property that looks substantially different, with the appealing photos apparently lifted from an earlier listing at a different address or a previous tenancy at the same address that has since been altered.

One Woy Woy resident who contacted this masthead described discovering, after attending an open home at a Blackwall Road property advertised in May, that photographs of a modernised bathroom in the listing appeared to belong to a separate unit in the same complex. She had driven from Ettalong Beach specifically because of those photos. Her complaint to the agency, she said, was met with an acknowledgment that the images had been uploaded in error.

Property managers and listing platforms both bear responsibility under the Australian Consumer Law for misleading representations in trade or commerce, and the NSW Fair Trading office in Gosford is the primary point of contact for formal complaints. Under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002, agents have specific obligations around accurate representation. NSW Fair Trading recorded a rise in property advertising complaints statewide in the 2024-25 financial year, though Central Coast-specific breakdowns are not publicly released at a suburb level.

Why It Matters More Here

The Central Coast has become one of the most active property corridors in New South Wales, driven partly by the aspiration of a faster rail link to Sydney and partly by the relative affordability compared with the northern suburbs. The median house price in Gosford remained below $900,000 in early 2026 according to publicly available CoreLogic data, a gap wide enough to attract buyers who cannot afford comparable stock closer to the city. That price differential means decisions are often made quickly, and a misleading listing photo can accelerate a bad decision significantly.

Central Coast Council, which emerged from state administration in 2021 and has been working to stabilise its finances and rebuild community trust, does not regulate private property listings directly. But the council's ongoing Gosford CBD renewal push — centred on Mann Street and the Gosford foreshore precinct — has seen increased development application activity, which in turn generates more new and off-the-plan listings where image accuracy is particularly difficult to verify.

If you believe a listing you have encountered contained misleading or duplicated images, the most direct path is a written complaint to NSW Fair Trading, reachable through its Gosford office at 339 Mann Street or via the Service NSW online portal. Complaints should include the URL of the listing, the date you viewed it, and any photographs taken at the inspection showing the discrepancy. Agents found in breach of advertising obligations can face disciplinary action through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Industry body the Real Estate Institute of NSW also maintains a complaint pathway through its member conduct process for agencies that hold REINSW membership.