List it now: open homes take off as Melbourne virus restrictions lift

Melbourne agents are ready for a busy weekend of private inspections for the first time in eight weeks.

Agents say many prospective Melbourne buyers and sellers are ready to come back to the market. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Melbourne agents are ready for a busy weekend of private inspections for the first time in eight weeks after restrictions were lifted last Sunday.

Agents have been busily booking strings of online auctions and one-on-one property viewings over the past week, following the Victorian government’s decision to allow buyers and renters through homes for the first time since August 2.

Stephen Dullens, the Victorian chief executive of national real estate network Ray White, said many prospective buyers and sellers were open and ready to come back and transact, after working through the fears of the online auction process and uncertain market following the first lockdowns in March.

“We said to our people, if you have something ready to go, list it now,” Mr Dullens said.

“People are sitting at home hitting refresh, refresh, refresh and waiting for new properties. Email inquiry off the back of that has been massive.”

 

Two of Ray White’s in-house auctioneers in the city booked more than 130 auctions for the coming weeks between Monday and Thursday. Agents are busy too, with many working from early morning to late at night to squeeze as many viewings in as possible.

Auction numbers bounced back to 130 properties in the week to Saturday from the lows of just 11 three weeks previously, according to figures from SQM Research. The data firm’s managing director, Louis Christopher, expects auction numbers to continue to rebound over the coming weeks and return to some normality by the end of November.

“Probably three weeks from now, with restrictions lifted, we could expect 300 to 400 auctions per week,” Mr Christopher said.

“In November, we could expect that to get as high as 700 to 800 per week.”

The chairman of Melbourne agency Nelson Alexander, Duncan McPherson, expects the past eight weeks to have a significant impact on the way transactions are handled in the future, which may make way for a very late and untraditional spring selling season.

“Real estate has changed in a sense. Auctions traditionally have a four-week lead time,” Mr McPherson said.

“What we’re saying now is buyers and vendors are acting in real time — that really takes the pressure off Saturdays. Every day is now a selling day.”

CoreLogic data released on Thursday showed prices fell 0.9 per cent over September, despite very low stock levels and the near halting of the industry except for online auctions. The fall was largely in line with the trends seen over the past few months, with the city bearing the brunt of property price declines compared with the other capital cities.

The firm’s head of research, Tim Lawless, did offer a warning that the index findings may not be a true representation of market operations due to the challenges faced through lockdowns, saying the test would be the performance through October.

Asking prices from vendors remained unchanged through September, according to SQM Research. Mr Christopher said the fact sellers were standing firm despite the circumstances was a display of confidence in the market.