March was a difficult month for Sydney property with plenty of disruptions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, properties continued to transact with agents, buyers and sellers adapting week-by-week.

Firstly… some BresicWhitney perspective:
– We sold 91 properties, compared with 83 for March 2019
– Of our 196 sales for 2020, just 31 sold via pubic auctions

On site auctions got banned. So too did public gatherings and open inspections. So the decision this month to sell all our homes via private treaty was simple. Limited to 2 people in a property at one time, everything we’re showing is by private appointment too.

In the past 7 days around 16,000 people viewed our sales properties on bw.com.au, with 138 Contract for Sale documents downloaded by active buyers. More than 100 buyers have reached out in the past 3 days alone to specifically say ‘we’re still intent on buying’.

Meanwhile, the RBA cut the cash rate for a second time in a month for the first time ever, to a new record low 0.25% in March.

The CoreLogic Home Value Index showed house price growth took a hit halfway through March as social distancing measures rolled out.

Property values still increased 1.1% in Sydney, with more subdued growth compared to recent months, and a slowdown in the second half of the month.

“From about the 16th of March through to the end of March, the rate of growth virtually halved,” said Tim Lawless, CoreLogic’s head of research.

“The point to make on the fact that values are still rising is that it’s very rare to see housing market trends turning extremely quickly, like equities markets do. They tend to be much more illiquid and have longer settlement periods and so forth.

“The temporary nature of the crisis meant that most home owners would try to weather the storm, hoping for an eventual upside once the virus is contained and economic conditions improve.”

The BresicWhitney network brought a high number of personally-introduced sales across our offices in Darlinghurst, Glebe, Balmain and Hunters Hill.

The property management team is busy helping tenants through difficult times, with sensible pricing critical for owners looking to minimise downtimes.

Homes are leasing in around 19 days with 102 properties leased.