I'm glad I'm not a home buyers trying to negotiate the maze of Melbourne's auction system. You see a house you like, you note from the agents' ads that it's in your price range, you spend large sums on building and pest inspections, you spend time on due diligence and organising your finance - and then you turn up at the auction and the bidding starts at a price higher than the advertised price.

This scenario is not the exception but the rule in Melbourne real estate. This enormously-frustrating circumstance is played out every weekend around the Victorian capital because auction agents routinely, knowingly and deliberately under-quote prices in their marketing.

It's illegal but they get away with it because the Consumer Affairs Minister in Victoria does nothing about it. His name is Daniel Andrews and, as a politician whose job is to protect real estate consumers, he's something of a joke. Recently he defended the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, saying: "I want to congratulate the REIV on its leadership on this."

Some years ago I researched under-quoting for a magazine article. My research found that 91% of auction ads greatly under-quoted the eventual selling price. Because this was such a huge problem the Victoria State Government made under-quoting illegal in 2004.

But nothing has changed. Research by The Age newspaper has found that auction properties commonly sell for 25% more than the advertised quote. But Consumer Affairs Victoria has not prosecuted a single agent in three years.

Meanwhile, the REIV continues to defend the indefensible by claiming that a rapidly-rising market is to blame. This larger lie compounds all the smaller lies appearing in auction ads every weekend.