April marked the first full month of Sydney property trading amid the COVID-19 environment. It wasn’t easy, but those in the market continued to respond to the opportunities on offer.

From online auctions to price discounting, there were enough active buyers in the market to propel things along. While Sydney values rose in April by 0.4% the pace of growth has weakened, and CoreLogic data now indicates the city’s prices peaked two weeks ago.

We sold 56 properties in April compared with 54 for the same period last year, so activity has remained in check. And with the government announcing easing some lock-down restrictions, it should become easier to transact from here.

BresicWhitney sold a number of landmark homes in the $3 million range this month, including this classic in Redfern, this Paddington staple, some warehouse cool in Alexandria, and in Hunters Hill.

Will Pereira sold 2 homes in online auctions to strong competition, with 4 people bidding on each.  The auctions were hosted via video conference, as 16 Denning Street, Petersham sold for $1,555,000, while 32 Morgan Street, Petersham sold for $1,675,000.  

In 1 week we had 2 sales from our Balmain team in the $5 million range: Adrian Oddi sold 7 Paul Street, Balmain East, while Andrew Liddell sold 15 Burnell Street, Drummoyne.

With FaceTime appointments proving to be a hit, Guido Scatizzi sold 605/105-113 Campbell Street, Surry Hills to home hunters from London, who bought via video conference for $715,000.

239 Balmain Road, Lilyfield sold for $1,575,000 with Renae Dickey from Glebe introducing the buyer to Adrian Oddi’s listing. It was the third sale in Balmain in a 48 hour period to come about through cross-promoting by BresicWhitney agents. Another was 47 Mort Street, Balmain, where John Yannakis introduced the buyer to Taryn Varcoe’s listing for $1,443,750.

Brandon Nguyen also sold 6 Church Street, Balmain for $1.57 million. Another sale that came about through assisting buyers, it would still be online if simply relying on the portals.

In the rental scene, we leased 109 properties which was a hugely constructive month, whatever the climate. That included 51 new clients who jumped aboard with BresicWhitney to achieve a leasing solution in these tough times.

It continues to be a renters market and properties need to be sharply advertised to make an impact. For example, in ‘Darlinghurst’ and ‘surrounding suburbs’ a search of the major portals reveals more than 3200 inner-city properties for rent right now.

There are also properties, waiting in the wings, where tenants intend to vacate, but aren’t online yet. Those homes are usually advertised the moment tenants give notice, but that’s not happening because of COVID-19, as we wait for them to vacate first.

The bottleneck of vacant homes in Inner Sydney continues to build. Read the full report here.

In a space where many business cut costs and human capital to protect profitability, especially when lock-down hit, we were lucky to have existing resources and framework to ensure owners can achieve results in these conditions.