Lockdown to significantly delay Canberra’s spring selling rush

Canberra’s red-hot property market is likely to bypass its traditional spring selling season, amid the city’s ongoing COVID lockdown and restrictions.

Spring has conventionally been the most effective and popular time to sell homes with the weather warming up and gardens in full bloom. But this year is expected to turn the tradition on its head with Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney all starting the season in lockdown.

Cameron Kusher, director of economic research at realestate.com.au, said it was likely Canberra’s annual peak selling season would be delayed until the city’s lockdown ended.

MORE: Canberra market set to skyrocket post-lockdown

“ACT is in lockdown as the spring selling season commences and as is the case elsewhere, I expect that this will lead to a delayed start to the lift in new listings,” Mr Kusher said.

“Once lockdowns end I am expecting a large increase in new listings given how strong demand remains and how strong it was prior to the current lockdown.”

The ACT lockdown currently runs until midnight on Friday 17 September, but public health restrictions are expected to remain in place for a number of weeks. The ACT government will outline the path out of lockdown on Tuesday (14 September).

James Carter, managing director of Carter+Co – Braddon, said the traditional spring selling season would be considerably delayed, if it was experienced at all.

“I don’t think we’re going to be seeing the level of spring activity that we’re used to,” Mr Carter said.

“It will be significantly delayed because a lot of the preparation and activity would have normally happened in the four-week lockdown that we’ve already had.

“This month is probably the month where we would see the crazy spring market and the activity generated in the last couple of weeks means this will reduce due to people’s concerns with access to properties and getting properties to the market.”

Mr Carter expected spring listings would be significantly reduced.

“We are going to have a lot less properties on the market in what would have been the traditional spring selling season,” he said.

“That bottleneck is going to generate so much activity when we come out of lockdown.

“We’re planning to perhaps not even have a break over Christmas. We’re expecting it to get much busier once restrictions ease.”

Josh Morrissey, director at HIVE – Canberra, said he did not expect to see the normal spring selling market at all this year.

“There’s nothing traditional about real estate at the moment. There’s no season, there’s nothing normal about what’s going to happen between now and Christmas,” Mr Morrissey said.

“Traditionally, the sun coming out and people thawing out in Canberra just puts people in a better mood. It’s not going to impact the market at all.”

Mr Morrissey said Canberra’s property market was “a bottleneck market”.

“We’ve been in a bottleneck for 12 months and now it’s a bottleneck on a bottleneck.

“We’ve got Christmas looming, so you have a bottleneck congested with the deadline of a Christmas shutdown and people wanting to get in and get their kids sorted for school next year. There are all these compounding effects of urgency.”

Real Estate Buyers Agents’ Association president Cate Bakos said while many buyers were motivated, auction listings continued to dwindle, and vendors remained cautious amid ongoing lockdowns.

Ms Bakos warned buyers in areas where restrictions prevented them from physically inspecting property not to buy sight unseen.

“It might look good in the video and photographs but there may be a number of serious flaws that aren’t showcased by the selling agency,” she said.

“These can include light, aspect, structural and building defects, room size, low ceilings and doorways and low-quality renovations that photograph well.”

Ms Bakos urged buyers in lockdown locations to be patient and to use the time wisely to research and have finance in place in preparation for when the market reopens.

“We envisage the next three months will see more restrictions and further lockdowns impacting the market but anticipate we’ll be gearing up for a very busy and extended summer property market once restrictions have lifted,” she said.

But Mr Morrissey said the lockdowns had provided a chance for agents to represent good trust, honesty and transparency with marketing videos and photos of properties for sale.

“It’s really holding everyone to account ensuring honesty, which is what it should be anyway. Because it’s recorded, your actions and your movements are now in video. It gives a reality check and a health check to the ethical procedures of the industry,” he said.

Under the current restrictions, property inspections and auctions can only take place online.

Since late August, real estate businesses have been permitted to allow one person to conduct property inspections required for the sale of a property to proceed, such as building inspections. One person from an agency can attend a vacant property once to capture listing images and pre-record a virtual tour.

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