Cheesy way open home won over buyers

An open home has tested out a quirky new way to change the outcome of prospective buyers.

New open home

A Sydney open home has turned into a pizza party, with slices freshly made straight out of the oven, offered as a ‘cheesy’ new way to change the sentiment of potential buyers.

A coffee van, nice smelling candles, soothing music or baking cookies are common lures to encourage an emotional connection to the home from interested buyers.

Real estate agent Megan Lawrence from Ray White Sutherland Shire was apprehensive when she was first approached to add an Ooni pizza oven to the backyard of an open home.

“I must admit I was sceptical at first, but I was open to trying different things, and it was interesting to see if it would make an impact,” she said.

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Homeseekers offered pizza at open home.

“In our area there has been more of an influx onto the market, you are having to make your property stand out more or show it's a nicer space,” she said.

This comes as September experienced a record high in listings across the market, tempering prices and the amount of buyers coming to auctions.

PropTrack director of economic research Cameron Kusher said it was the highest amount of new properties hitting the market nationally for the month of September in nine years.

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“Sydney especially had a 17.9 per cent increase in new listings – they’re quite elevated they haven’t been at those levels since 2014,” he said.

Interested buyers eat pizza at open home.

A mixture of owners experiencing huge equity gains wanting to upgrade and borrowers stifled by high interest rates could be contributing to the new stock on the market, according to Mr Kusher.

SMQ Research founder Louis Christopher said recent research indicated it was a buyers market, making it harder for sellers.

“Sellers in the Sydney market are experience more competition with each other which is a result of higher total listings and a reduction in buyers,” he said.

“Auction clearance rates show there has been additional weakness in the market.”

Mr Christopher said asking prices had been flat since winter and many sellers were having to “meet the market.”

Adding an Ooni Pizza oven to entice buyers.

“Its clear to us that vendors have had less confidence in the market,” he added. “If they want to sell they have to negotiate.”

Ms Lawrence said overall she was pleasantly surprised by the effect the pizza offering had.

“Anything that is different that can make someone feel good in a home,” she said.

“Often after, you might ring buyers and they will say ‘I didn’t feel good in the house,’ … different elements like with this experiment, it makes people feel good.

Homemade pizzas at an auction.

“I can’t see any negatives – especially if that wasn’t there, its leaving it up to people’s imagination, so it painted a nice picture for people of what it could be.”

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Originally published as Cheesy way open home won over buyers