Real estate auctions banned from midnight Wednesday in coronavirus crackdown

Real estate auctions and open house inspections will cease from midnight Wednesday March 25 under a tough new crackdown from the national cabinet to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Gathering together in auction rooms could no longer continue, said Prime Minister Scott Morrison, as he unveiled a list of large social gatherings that will be prohibited in a bid to slow transmission of the deadly disease.

As recently as Tuesday morning, Fair Trading NSW and the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety had said auctions could still go ahead with social distancing rules in place.

The new rules call into question how the 2000 auctions scheduled around Australia in the capital cities for the next two weekends before the usual Easter recess will take place. Some agents had already moved to push auctions online but Mr Morrison’s announcement will force that move to be much more rapid.

Private property inspections can still be carried out.

Amusement parks and arcades are also included in the restrictions announced by Mr Morrison on Tuesday night.

Shopping centres remain open but tenants offering personal services such as beauty therapists will not, and patrons may not eat in at food courts in shopping centres.

Mr Morrison said the question of leases was set to be considered by the national cabinet in its next meeting on Wednesday night.

Hopes had been high that the cabinet would announce rent relief for tenants affected by the pandemic and its economic fallout, or land tax exemptions to assist landlords facing a loss of income, but no announcement was made on Tuesday night.

“A lot of progress has been made over the course of today and over the course of this week we’ll be looking to finalise some issues,” Mr Morrison said on the question of rent relief.

“This is obviously a complex issue … the states working with the Treasurer have done some excellent work today.”

He also flagged work being done on energy bills, and highlighted the mortgage relief already on offer from the big banks.

The auction restrictions will be a fundamental change for home buyers and sellers, with a shift to online and phone bidding widely expected.

Cooley Auctions managing director and auctioneer Damien Cooley flagged a move online.

“In these troubled times the move to ban in-room auctions, on site auctions and open home inspections was expected,” Mr Cooley told Domain late on Tuesday. “Not this soon but expected nonetheless.”

His group offers an online platform to watch, register, bid, buy and exchange online from anywhere, known as AuctionNow by Realtair.

“Thankfully we are completely prepared for this.”

Ray White managing director Dan White said the group would carefully adhere to the new restrictions.

“While these restrictions will no doubt provide us with some challenges, we view them as necessary to face the current crisis and welcome the opportunity to continue to support the many Australians who rely on us to support them in renting, buying, selling and managing their homes. We are well prepared to do this,” Mr White said.

“The key message to take away is that all real estate onsite and in room auctions and open house inspections will be cancelled as of Wednesday night, but our members will still be able to host virtual property tours, private inspections and on-line/digital auctions, as we have been encouraging.”

The measures come as the real estate industry has been racing to adapt to social distancing measures to protect clients, staff and the public.

A ban on handshakes quickly escalated into chairs spaced 1.5 metres apart and careful crowd control for public auctions.

It gathered pace on Tuesday with a push to private auctions and online or phone bidding from some of Australia’s biggest real estate agency networks. Earlier in the day, groups such as Ray White and Harcourts had flagged that for the rest of the week auction attendance had been set to be by registration only, and after that point all bidding would be online or by phone.

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