31st August 2020 / Rob Fletcher: Market Update | 29 & 30 August 2020

As the real estate industry endures the final weeks of Melbourne's strict six-week lockdown, buyer activity has remained surprisingly strong, with realestate.com.au reporting almost no impact to traffic on their website, with total site visits and enquiries in Victoria remaining steady throughout stage 4 restrictions.

REA Chief Economist, Nerida Conisbee, said that despite fears of a dramatic slowdown, current activity shows that people see this lockdown 'more as business as usual and that there is a timeframe for it and they will get through it'.

'We've got incredibly low interest rates of below 2% now and so I think buyers are seeing now as an opportunity to jump in,' she added.

Melbourne's property market has survived a 53% drop in newly listed homes over the last four weeks due to the strict lockdown measures, but strong interest in property amongst buyers continues to show signs of a swift market rebound this Spring, with agents expecting a busy marketplace through the back end of September and October.

'What we've seen in Melbourne is a pullback of listings. But it will help to support prices. Following stage 4 lockdown, we'll see a rapid increase in vendors coming to the market. Transactions will start to return,' Domain Senior Research Analysis, Nicola Powell suggested.

In Fletchers news, Director & Auctioneer, Tim Heavyside and his team successfully sold 8 Bright Street in Camberwell for $1,638,000 on Saturday. Conducted via a one-hour long, remote, online auction, the property generated lots of buyer interest in the lead up to auction day, where it attracted three interested bidders.

'Patience is definitely a virtue! A whopping 66 minutes after we began, we had the result! Congratulations to our vendors and the successful purchasers, who played the long game and are rewarded with the keys to a wonderful home in a blue-chip location', Mr Heavyside said.

Success. It's a Fletchers thing.