8th July 2020: Melbourne Auctions Banned From Midnight Wednesday - Stage 3 Restrictions Return

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Melbourne auctions banned from midnight Wednesday as Stage 3 restrictions return

Public auctions across Melbourne will be banned from Wednesday night and forced to move back online for the next six weeks as all metropolitan local government areas are plunged back into stage three restrictions.

Open for inspections would back to one-on-one, Premier Daniel Andrews said, announcing Mitchell Shire, which includes the suburbs of Seymour, Tallarook, Broadford and Kilmore, would also face the same restrictions as metropolitan Melbourne.

Mr Andrews announced these LGAs would go into "stay-at-home" stage three restrictions from 11.59pm Wednesday night, after the state recorded its largest number of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with 191 new cases.

Victoria has 772 active cases now recorded across the state.

While the move is aimed at saving lives, it could take Victoria's auction market back to the doldrums it faced in late March and throughout April when tough restrictions were first put in place.

In April clearance rates plummeted to 29.7 per cent — the lowest point on record — with 64.2 per cent of the scheduled auctions being withdrawn.

Melbourne's clearance rate has improved since then, stabilising since restrictions began to ease in May, although listings and scheduled auction numbers have remained low.

The move to stage three follows the recent lockdown of 12 postcodes in the northern, north-western and western suburbs of Melbourne which had become known as coronavirus hotspots.

"There has been more positive cases in these post codes and leakage out of these post codes," Mr Andrews said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

He said some Victorians had become complacent, believing that the coronavirus crisis was over.

"We have had people acting like this is over – it is part of the problem, a big part of the problem," Mr Andrews said.

Stage three restrictions mean people can only leave their homes for four reasons: going to work or school, for care or care-giving, to shop for necessities and for daily exercise. No visitors are allowed in homes.

Mr Andrews added the caveats that people must stay at their principal place of residence and are not able to move to a holiday home or second home.

Melburnians are also not able to travel away from the metropolitan area to exercise.

Despite the setback for public auctions, agents were ready to go back to online auctions, expression of interest or private treaty sales.

Fletchers chief executive officer Bradley Brown commented on the return stage three restrictions "Our industry can take comfort in the fact that we have had some experience with this now and can adapt even more quickly and smoothly than last time." "Real estate services remain an 'essential service'," he said.

Director and Auctioneer, Robert Sheahan from Fletchers Blackburn said June was one of the best sales months in his career due to a steady demand from buyers to buy in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne regardless of the current situation.

"One of my key observations: buyers don't care whether they need to attend open for inspections, private appointments, negotiate offers for private sale, bid online or attend public auctions," Robert Sheahan said. "This has proved to me that if a buyer wants to buy, they will do whatever they need to do to secure the home that interests them the most and not even a global pandemic will stop them from doing so," he said.

With popular auctions already going online, including those where more than 20 people were expected to watch or bid, Mr Bongiorno expected many auctions to go online via Zoom.

Some would also move to expression of interest sales, he said.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Leah Calnan said while sales would move to online and private treaty in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, she warned prospective buyers that they could be turned away from auctions in regional areas, or those outside of the restricted LGAs.

"A good example is if you were living in Cardinia Shire (in Melbourne's south east) and wanted to view a property in Phillip Island in the Bass Shire you can be prohibited from going," Ms Calnan said. "The agent can turn you away."