‘The buyer’s going to become king’

REAL Estate agents are hopeful increased interest in property will translate to action once people can move more freely.

Economists have predicted a downturn in prices for the remainder of the year following a downward trend in the economy due to the Covid19 lockdown.

Dunedin Bayleys Metro real estate agent Dave Buckley said activity on websites listing properties had skyrocketed but it was not clear whether that would translate to sales.

‘‘The various portals such as the websites and Trade Me are saying they’re getting a lot more activity — so there’s still a lot of people still looking.

‘‘All the various agents are still getting contact from clients who are still interested to know what the markets are doing and ones that are still actively looking for properties.

‘‘There’s a lot of activity . . . just how that transitions into the real world and people buying, that’s going to be the key thing.’’

There would still be active buyers in the Dunedin market who had sold property before the lockdown, Mr Buckley said.

‘‘There’s going to be a bit of a burst where houses are going to sell reasonably quickly. Once those buyers are stabilised and got a house — we’re going to obviously slow right down.’’

He was aware of economists’ comments about prices and said the market was likely to ‘‘swing from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market’’.

‘‘The buyer’s going to become king.’’

Bayleys Metro was working hard to increase its online presence and ability to carry out work remotely, he said.

‘‘We foresee that depending on what Level 3 looks like, it’s probably going to be a different environment to what we’re used to.’’

Auctions may become more popular as they could be carried out from home, he said.

Harcourts Queenstown managing director Warwick Osborne said the company had made sales during the lockdown, but it had not seen a ‘‘correction’’ in prices.

‘‘Over the lockdown we have owners who have taken their properties to market with us and we have owners ready to go to market once Level 4 is removed.’’

He said inquiries had increased ‘‘significantly’’.

‘‘We will see activity in the market post lockdown, increase in requests for appraisals and a portion of the market will adopt a cautious approach.’’

Mr Osborne said the company had a good network of expat New Zealanders who had contacted agents saying they were considering a return to New Zealand.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand will release its latest figures for the Otago region today.