Ending real estate underquoting could kill the auction system, a leading buyer's agent says.

Underquoting is the name given to the practice of listing properties with a buyer's range well below the property's expected sale price.

Melbourne-based buyer's advocate Greville Pabst — known to television audiences as a buyer's jury judge on reality show The Block Triple Threat — said underquoting was an issue that was here to stay.

"It is common every weekend, it really is," Mr Pabst told 774 ABC Melbourne's Richelle Hunt.

"Somebody said to me a while ago that if an agent does not lie to vendors he won't get a listing, and if they don't lie to buyers then they won't get a sale."

Mr Pabst said agents needed buyers at lower price points to attend and bid at auctions to achieve the best price for the vendor.

"There is another old adage in real estate: 'quote it low watch it go, quote it high watch it die'," he said.

"If you get to a situation where you are quoting too high, you will just kill the auction system."

Mr Pabst said buyers should remember real estate agents worked for the vendor, and would use whatever strategies they could for the best price.

"I cannot understand why buyers would go to an agent and ask them 'what is the price range'; that is crazy to me," he said.

"If you buy a car, do you get RACV or somebody to check out the car for you before you buy, or do you rely simply on what the seller is telling you about that car?

"It is the same for real estate; do your own homework."

Underquoting unfair for everyone

Callers to 774 ABC Melbourne were overwhelmingly in favour of ending the practice of underquoting.

Caller Tony from Elsternwick said underquoting was unfair for the real estate industry and the consumer.

"It is basically a cop-out and it is leaving a lot of people with a fair bit of grief," he said.

Anne from Vermont said her daughter bid at auctions for a year and a half before buying off-the-plan out of frustration.

"In any other field if you were so inaccurate you would not have a job," she said.

'No simple rule' to underquoting

Mr Pabst said underquoting "happened too often for it not to be deliberate", but added some properties were quoted accurately and others were quoted high.

Contrary to popular belief, he said, agents did not simply subtract 10 per cent from the expected sale price when listing a property.

Greville Pabst says buyers should attend auctions and read auction results to research the market in their area. ( Supplied )

"There is no simple rule," he said.

Mr Pabst said Melbourne is experiencing a "very hot, runaway market" and agents were often blamed for underquoting when properties sell for higher prices than expected.

"We are surprised at some of these runaway results at the moment, so agents can't be blamed for that," he said.

Mr Pabst said buyer should attend auctions in their interest suburbs before attempting to buy a property and read the weekend's auction results.

"Data is free now; it is readily available," he said.

"Either engage a professional — a valuer, a buyers agent — or do your own homework so you are informed and you know exactly what to pay."

Buyers need pass-in strategy

Mr Pabst said lower auction clearance rates presented buyers with an opportunity to clinch their desired property.

"Clearance rates have dropped down to 74 per cent, and we are noticing that there are less bidders," he said.

"We are seeing more properties that are going to pass in at auction and we haven't seen that for quite some time."

Mr Pabst recommended would-be buyers have a strategy for the moment their favourite property was passed-in at auction.

"Make sure that if a property passes in, it passes in to you," he said.

"Go in and negotiate, if you have a genuine vendor and a genuine buyer, normally the deal will get done.

"If you are standing back and not participating you are going to miss the property."