My FAQ on how Covid -19 is affecting the WA property market

There are no winners with Covid-19 or in 2020.

For a year that started with so much promise and much optimism for the Western Australian property market. 3 consecutive months of growth, albeit small. A positive approach from Buyers, realistic Sellers and demand for rental properties and rent increase for the first time since 2014.

What a difference a month makes…..

Home 2 Home Realty were well placed to adjust quickly to working remotely having transitioned in 2019 to a paperless office.

However, even with our new systems and procedures, further change was needed quickly. We are now working differently to the ways we were even 4 weeks ago.

The Federal and State Governments have introduced new and necessary restrictions to stop the spread of the virus, the effects on peoples lives and livelihoods will be felt for many months and years after we are given the go ahead to return to normal.

What’s normal?

There is no doubt there will be a new normal that may not resemble the old normal. This is could be a good thing

The last couple of weeks have been filled with many questions from all our clients. We can tell you we are open for business and the property market continues to operate, just under different conditions. Some provide a more efficient way of doing things.

Some of the questions being asked, we have address with the below list:-

CAN WE STILL INSPECT A HOME, NOW THERE ARE NO HOME OPENS?

Yes, Our team have taken walk through videos and uploaded them to our YouTube Channel, we are sending people to view first and if still interested, making a by appointment to view inspection. We ask people to not touch anything while a team member will open and shut the doors or any cupboards they want to further inspect. No more than 2 people at a time inside the property and we continue to maintain the social distancing of 1.5m.

ARE YOU OPEN?

Yes, the office is open by appointment the only disruption to normal services is no in person routine inspections. All key drop offs and pick ups are via appointment.

ARE SETTLEMENTS SCHEDULED TO GO AHEAD?

Yes, settlements scheduled are still going ahead so people continue to live, sell and move into their new homes. We facilitate the picking up and the dropping off of keys and assist with professional methods to ensure peace of mind for new homeowners in final inspections.

AUCTIONS ONLINE – CAN THEY STILL BE DONE TO SELL MY HOUSE?

We are certified Openn Negotiation Agents and can provide a comprehensive marketing program to maximise price in the current market. Openn Negotiation allows bidders to login and bid online, it provides benefits to Buyers with full disclosure of other offers. There are also benefits to Sellers.

I’M LOOKING TO BUY – WHAT DO I NEED TO DO IN THIS ENVIRONMENT?

Really good question as in this environment Buyer/s who are in a very secure job are actually in an improved position because the overall market has become weaker. We’ve continued to receive Buyer enquiry, and there have been offers written in the past two weeks with one successful Buyer.

I AM LOOKING TO BUY AN INVESTMENT PROPERTY, WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE AND WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?

If you find a home that suits your needs Buy It! There continues to be a low number of homes available for sale. In fact, there was a reduction in the number of homes available for sale as at REIWA figures dated 12 April 2020. Supply and demand dictates price. While people have lost jobs and there remains uncertainty, a large portion of the people now unemployed were casual works that weren’t necessarily our next Buyer/s. Only history will tell us what will happen in the WA Property market. It’s hard to believe we live in the same country when for the last 5 years, Sydney and Melbourne had records price growth while WA saw the market decline. I would suggest, WA has more upside that the east coast going forward.

WHAT IS THE SALES PROPERTY MARKET DOING NOW AT THIS TIME?

I think the overall picture is the same from suburb to suburb as each of the markets are doing slightly different things still, but to the broad point the virus is having an impact on activity as there are no open homes. In the later months of 2019 and early months of 2020 the Perth market was really starting to show stable numbers, it was showing good signs of recovery and a lot of suburbs were rebounding back from low bases and beginning to get stronger. The Coronavirus then hit and there is no doubt the virus has increased caution among many buyers and some sellers have decided to sit and wait to see what happens when this is over.

WILL THERE BE A REBOUND IN 2021?

My crystal ball is not that good, 2020 will in many ways be a hard year on the economy, a lot of businesses are facing the prospect of low to no revenue. The stimulus packages are well targeted and the RBA has talked about a rebound in the second half of this year or early 2021 – I really hope they are right. Either way, it’s important to remember that the rebound will happen, people will recover, people will go back to restaurants and people will go back to footy, things will at some point return to normal but there will be some casualties along the way.