How the property market will change post lockdown?

It’s been a big start to the week for Victoria with the state’s roadmap out of lockdown announced and a timeline outlined for industries including real estate to reopen.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday revealed when 70 per cent of eligible Victorians had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, Melbourne’s lockdown would end and on-site auctions would be allowed outside with up to 50 fully vaccinated attendees.

But what does it mean for those looking to buy, sell and move house at the moment?

The latest PropTrack Rental Listings Report showed there was a 4.8% decline in new rental listings on realestate.com.au nationally in August, the lowest volume of new stock since before the pandemic began in December 2019.

Melbourne’s inner-city market is currently challenged by the combination of renters still vacating properties (for a variety of reasons), and the ability to re-let properties being impacted by the current lockdown restrictions. 

Over the coming months, we expect rental market conditions to remain tight and price pressures to increase. In contrast to the for-sale market, it’s unlikely there will be a swift rebound in new rental listings once lockdowns end. 

The overall supply of rental listings nationally continued to tighten from August through to September with total listings falling by 3.1% during the month to a record low. Total listings were 11.9% lower year on year. As renters continue to take advantage of remote working and seek more space, they will find fewer listings coming onto the market outside the city.

Rentals in the Mornington Peninsula are tightly held with only a 3.1% increase in new listings, while the Outer East had a 4.8% increase.Other changes in the market post lockdowns is a likely change to the Saturday open experience

When it comes to real estate sales their is still a low amount of stock on the market which is pushing up prices as buyers have fewer options for purchase. Similar to last year we expect an extended Spring selling season as high volumes of property get listed late October into November and buyers are unable to travel overseas during that time.

While the real estate industry had welcomed the resumption of one-on-one inspections, it meant many of our agents are now spending several hours on Saturday showing properties to buyers in back-to-back appointments and are now having to book more and more appointments during the week. We have found buyers are alot more open to the midweek inspection as working from home has freed up their work schedule allowing for more time to come to inspections instead of travelling to and from work.

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