REAL ESTATE AGENTS RUNNING OUT OF HOMES TO SELL AS PANDEMIC SCARES VENDORS BUT EXCITES BUYERS

 

TERRITORY real estate agents are running out of properties to sell with vendors still hesitant to put their homes on the market.

TERRITORY real estate agents are running out of properties to sell with vendors still hesitant to put their homes on the market.
Raine & Horne Darwin sales consultant Adam Gulliford said the coronavirus crisis initially frightened many buyers and sellers but now with restrictions easing, purchasers were back in full force.

“In the last 10 days the inquiry has steadily risen and risen and now I’d say we’re even in front of where we were prior to the COVID-19,” he said.

“(Coronavirus) scared a lot of people off and even if we’d found the perfect house and the price and everything worked out, because of that uncertainty where nobody knew what was going to happen, 99 per cent of people started to hang off.

“Now that the government’s decided to open the pubs again – I always said when the pubs open in the NT that’s what’s going to be the catalyst – as soon as that was announced my inquiries went through the roof.

“There was light at the end of the tunnel."

However, Mr Gulliford said vendors were still reluctant to sell.

“It is the whole unknown factor that is the big thing,” he said.

“Also a huge amount of people were affected financially and that makes a big impact when it comes to selling their biggest asset … I had several vendors that were planning to move to different parts of Australia and, of course, at the moment the NT is the safest place in Australia to be.

“Nobody wants to sell their house and move interstate at the moment, and so all their plans are now on hold.”

Mr Gulliford said although buyers might be searching for their dream home for a while longer, a temporary lack of stock could prove beneficial for the market.

“The good result of that will be the amount of stock on the market is going to dwindle very, very quickly,” he said.

“The whole market relies on supply and demand and all of a sudden we’re finally going to be in a position where we have a lot more demand than we have supply.

“That’s going to make houses sell a lot quicker and that also means we’re going to start to see slight increases in prices, which we were seeing prior to the COVID-19.”

Mr Gulliford encouraged Territorians looking to sell to list their properties now.

“The buyers are out there, unfortunately the stock is not there,” he said.

“Now is the best time to put your house on the market because there is huge demand and very little supply.

“Buyers, don’t stuff around. Put your offer in.

“If you see the house you want, put your offer in because if you don’t the person right behind you will and you’ll miss out.”

NT News - Raphaella Saroukos - @raphsaroukos
 

For more information on what the market is doing, watch GM, Glenn Grantham's, review of March and April 2020 HERE.