After six weeks without on-site auctions and open house showings, real estate agents are relieved to be going back to something like normal from this weekend.
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But for many Goulburn real estate agents, the temporary restrictions and COVID-19 induced market downturn did not cause the pain felt by their city counterparts.
In Sydney, the number of listings fell, discounting increased, and the auction clearance rate hit its lowest level in 15 years.
Meanwhile, in Goulburn, rural properties and parcels of land continued to sell.
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"The rural aspect of things - 25 acres plus - has been very active," said Levi Peterson, sales administrator for Ray White Goulburn.
"There are people from the cities coming to live in the country, or they want a hobby block."
Tom Antony, from Antony and Edwards Real Estate, agreed.
"Surprisingly, we've still had good sales results. People are still in the market," he said.
"We haven't really suffered. Goulburn's been going pretty well, and lots of areas across the country are going okay."
Angella Storrier, from Angella Storrier Real Estate, said that while the level of inquiries generally had dropped, the ones they'd had were serious.
And she too had also seen strong interest in rural and land sales.
"I had three showings just on Saturday, on that cold, windy day," she said.
"We coped with the restrictions, used hand sanitiser, removed our shoes, used hand wipes to open doors."
All the agents agreed that they would be pleased to get back to more public inspections and auctions, although Ms Storrier said she would be proceeding very cautiously.
"I'll probably have two open houses on the weekend, but I'm a little cautious," she said. "We'll have one family group through at a time. We don't want to see a second wave."
There has been one big change over the last six weeks, noted Ms Storrier.
"On several sales, the banks have tightened up considerably as to their lending," she said.
"COVID-19 has had an impact, in that the banks don't want to over-lend in an environment where people have lost jobs."
She warned owners that house valuations could be trending downwards.
"For owners, it can be hard to appreciate that their house was worth something one month, but less the month after," said Ms Storrier.
In announcing the easing of restrictions, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Health Brad Hazzard said the move was a sign of the ongoing success in limiting the spread of COVID-19 but warned there was no place for complacency, with community safety and social distancing to remain an ongoing priority.
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