19/04/2023

Melbourne buyers and vendors rushed back into the market, scheduling and attending open homes and auctions as early as Monday morning after the ban on private inspections was lifted.

Home buyer Stefanie Bamford also moved fast and attended the Werribee inspection on Monday morning, eager to kick-start her property search again after being delayed by the lockdown for four months.
“I can finally go and check the properties that I’ve been looking at online,” Ms Bamford said.
“The lockdown has set us back for a few months and has impacted our ability to buy. We’re not prepared to buy sight unseen. Photos are misleading and it’s hard to tell if there’s any issue with the property by just looking at photos and you can’t get a feel for how big a property is just from a video either.”
Over in Craigieburn, 45 minutes north of the CBD, vendor Dimitris Loupos spent Monday morning tidying up his house at 9 Lush Drive for last minute private inspections before auctioning it online at 6pm.
“I was jumping for joy when I heard the news that we’re now allowed to have private inspections,” Mr Loupos said.
Dimitris Loupos with wife Catherine and kids Khloe, 3, and Leo, 9 months, in front of their family home that will be auctioned on Monday night. Wayne Taylor
“It’s been quite a struggle not being able to sell due to the lockdown because we’ve already bought our next home and we’re at risk of losing our deposit. So our agent has been working around the clock to set up the online auction tonight and it’s looking good, with a few bidders already registered.”
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said Melbourne would normally have between 700 and 1100 auctions each week at this time of the year but this has shrunk to just a handful.
“With the lifting of the ban on private inspections in Victoria, we are expecting auction listings to materially rise, starting at about three weeks from now,” Mr Christopher said.
“I think auction numbers may get back towards 300 to 400 by the end of October and then potentially rising towards 1000 during Saturday auctions by the end November.”
Last Saturday, only 60 homes were taken to auction in Melbourne and 11 in the previous week, the CoreLogic data showed.
Stefanie Bamford, who inspected the Werribee house on Monday, said she is keen to see more potential purchases now that restrictions have been lifted. Louis Trerise
Only 1675 homes were listed for sale in the past 28 days ended September 27 a 75.3 per cent drop compared with a year ago.
The Victorian government announced on Sunday that private property and display home inspections could go ahead but auctions would continue to be conducted remotely.
City-based buyers are not permitted to travel to regional Victoria for a private property inspection, and similarly those in the regions may not travel to metropolitan Melbourne for inspections.