Melbourne has been plunged into a fifth lockdown and Melbourne’s property market has again moved online to cope.
Hopes are high this will be a quick snap lockdown, but for the time being in-person auctions and home inspections are off.
Premier Dan Andrews said the current lockdown is a five-day proposition while authorities race to get control of a handful of new cases.
“We want a repeat of the successful strategy of just a couple of weeks ago,” he said at his press conference.
“I’m not prepared to avoid a five-day lockdown now only to go into five-week or even five-month lockdowns later on.”
There were a healthy 1062 auctions scheduled for the weekend that will now either be put on hold or be sold via online auction.
Being the fifth lockdown for Melbourne since the pandemic hit, the city’s property market has been on fire with pent-up demand from buyers that have been held back due to COVID restrictions.
“There’s definitely demand,” Phillip Webb Real Estate chief executive Anthony Webb told Domain.
“If you want to buy a property you’re going to do whatever you can so you can go and do it.”
Regional vendors got some good news at the Premier’s press conference, with Mr Andrews saying some parts of Victoria possibly coming out of restrictions before Tuesday.
“We will release those parts of regional Victoria that it is safe to release before next Tuesday if it is safe to do so,” he said.
On the flip side, the Premier said there were no guarantees restrictions in the metro area would end next week, so buyers and sellers of property might have to cool their jets until the current outbreak plays itself out.
