Wagga locals attending an auction this winter can expect to see a return to normality, with a bit more space and readily-available hand sanitiser.
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Two months after the six-week ban on auctions and home inspections was lifted, real estate agents say things are looking much closer to business as usual.
PRDnationwide director Simon Freemantle said the company was about to launch its second auction campaign since restrictions were lifted, which was not too different from the normal rate of auctions in Wagga.
"As a percentage of sales, auctions in Wagga are significantly lower than what they are in metropolitan areas, the large majority of sales in Wagga are sold by private treaty," Mr Freemantle said.
He said while the momentum of auctions had "dropped a little bit" since lockdown, private treaty transactions were still going strong.
To keep auctions safe, Mr Freemantle said the company was implementing similar practices to open inspections, providing hand sanitiser and encouraging people to keep their distance.
"As best we can we try and set up a situation where people have the space to be able to view an auction or view an open house without any issues in regards to the social distancing," he said.
However, he said the distance would be difficult to maintain if a property up for auction drew a large crowd.
A recent open house which attracted 22 groups in half an hour proved how challenging facilitating those restrictions could be.
"There are properties that will attract an enormous amount of attention at an auction," Mr Freemantle said.
"Realistically it boils down to people doing the right thing as well."
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Raine & Horne Wagga director Mathew Longmore said the company had an auction planned for the start of August, with unique, central homes or small acreage properties most likely to be sold using that method.
"If we've got the right property to go to auction we'll be full-scale and pushing ahead to go down that track," Mr Longmore said.
He said while he was keeping a close eye on Victoria's coronavirus outbreak, it looked to be business as usual for now in Wagga which he said had proven to be a "resilient" market.
"From where it was pre-COVID to where it is now ... we had a handbrake pulled on and now the handbrake's been released and we're actually seeing higher levels of enquiry in some areas, even into our commercial part of the business," he said.
"It's one of the things we've really found out through this process, that there are people around that have got money and for the right property they're ready to go, no matter what the circumstance."