Kiwis living outside of Auckland will be waiting for the Government’s decision on whether or not they will move out of the level four lockdown.
For the real estate industry, the hard lockdown ordered last week after Covid-19 reappeared in the community has made life harder but not impossible.
In fact, real estate agents told OneRoof that the lockdown has not been as disruptive as the one experienced in March and April last year.
Many sales have gone ahead, with most buyers and sellers getting the hang of online auctions and virtual open homes.
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Most of the agents OneRoof talked to this week said that buyer appetite was still strong, and they are hopeful that lockdown levels outside of Auckland will be eased this weekend.
Rod Grieve, who heads up Bayleys offices in Manawatu, Rangitikei and Horowhenua, said that his agents had talking to clients and potential clients throughout the lockdown. “Those calls are a wee bit longer than usual because people are lonely and they just want to hear from you,” he said.
Grieve said the agency had no auctions set for this week and would move easily to holding online auctions if the lockdown period was extended. “That’s a technology benefit that came out of the last lockdown,” he said.
Grieve noted that colleagues in Hamilton had a 100% clearance rate for their lockdown auctions and did not expect auctions in Palmerston North to be any different.
Bayleys agents from around the country had been isolating since they were potentially exposed to Covid-19 at their annual conference in Auckland on August 13. Grieve was due to have his day 12 test just after OneRoof contacted him. All going well the results should be back by Friday to coincide with any relaxing of the lockdown levels.
Testing for Covid-19 in Christchurch. Agents in the regions told OneRoof they hope alert levels will relaxed this weekend. Photo / Getty Images
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Government issues a two stage phasing of the levels. Auckland is probably in it for the longer haul. But the regions could revert to a level three type scenario for, I guess, a week. We think that’s a possibility for next week,” he said.
Simon Tremain, owner of Tremains in the Hawke’s Bay, told OneRoof he had sold five properties at an online auction he called this week, with bidding activity no different to what he had seen just before lockdown.
He was confident the regions would be out of level 4 by the end of the weekend and that the sales process would resume as normal.
During last year’s national lockdown buyers thought they’d be able to score bargains and take advantage of desperate sellers. But that wasn’t the case, Tremain said, with buyers more realistic this time around about prices.
Bayleys Southland agent Jaimee McCabe said lockdown had been “business as usual in an unusual way”.
“There is better confidence with buyers as we have been here before,” she said.
“We have seen an increase in buyer enquiry across Southland, Dunedin and Queenstown. I am predicting a Spring rush after lockdown.”
Ray White New Plymouth business owner Jane Simonson is also upbeat. She is set to bring a grand four-bedroom home in New Plymouth to online auction tomorrow – a first for Taranaki, she believes.
“Lockdown hasn’t put the buyers off bidding online. They know that is the environment we are operating in,” Simonson said.
Queenstown agent Matt Finnigan, of New Zealnd Sotheby’s International Realty, said he deals with a lot of Australians and expat clients, many of whom are prepared to buy high-end properties sight unseen.
Since lockdown, he has received a lot of calls from serious buyers. “For now it’s same old, same old, but I don’t think I’d be saying the same thing in another two weeks if we were still in level 4. I’d be pulling out the remaining hair I still have.”
