What was to be the busiest week of the year so far for home sales in Australia has fizzled after public auctions were banned as part of social-distancing measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While 3,203 properties were scheduled for auction across the combined state and territory capital cities in the week that ended yesterday, 40 percent were pulled from the market after the ban was announced, data provider CoreLogic said in a statement yesterday.
Of the auctions that did proceed, just 51.4 percent of houses sold — the lowest clearance rate since June last year, when the property market was starting to emerge from a nearly two-year slump.
The Australian government on Tuesday last week banned open-house inspections and public auctions as part of measures to combat the virus.
Unlike other countries, individual inspections of properties are rare in Australia’s major cities, with realtors typically opening properties twice a week to encourage as many people as possible through a home. Auctions, a popular way of selling properties in Australia, are often held in the front yard, attracting crowds of bidders and onlookers.
“The coming months are likely to see substantially fewer auctions than normal,” CoreLogic said.
While some listings will switch to a private sale — where the buyer and seller negotiate directly — “others will likely pull their property from the market altogether until confidence and selling conditions improve,” the firm said.
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