The home owners who are still selling despite the COVID-19 restrictions

It will be one of the last public auctions for some time and for vendors Nyree Shamlian and her husband Spartak, they realise they are about to make a little bit of history.

The couple decided to go ahead with their auction despite massive changes announced overnight that have plunged the industry into uncertainty.  

Nyree and Spartak moved their original auction date from the weekend to Thursday, and then to Wednesday night after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement that public auctions and open for inspections would be shutdown from Wednesday night to help fight the spread of coronavirus.

The couple, who have two children, are selling their Lane Cove apartment in Longueville Road and were hopeful tonight’s auction would go off without a hitch.

“I think we are confident given the fact we’ve got a really good response from buyers,” Ms Shamlian said. 

After the sale, the couple plan on a normal settlement time, and will look at options for buying again somewhere in the north shore.

“We’ve just got to move forward. There’s a bigger picture and this will pass,” Ms Shamlian said.

Since Mr Morrison’s announcement on Tuesday night, agents and auctioneers across the country have been scrambling to change their sales tactics from public auction to expressions of interest sales, private sale or online auctions.

Dozens of auctions were also being moved to Wednesday, to beat the deadline for the restrictions now in place on public auctions and open for inspections. Private inspections were still being allowed to go ahead.

The restrictions come at a crucial time in the Melbourne and Sydney markets, which were due to hold their pre-Easter “Super Saturdays”.

This weekend, more than 1300 auctions were scheduled for Melbourne, while more than 900 had been scheduled for Sydney and 120 in Brisbane.

In Sydney, Forsyth Real Estate auctioneer Rick D’Amico was one of many selling on Wednesday night, hoping for good results prior to the midnight deadline for public auctions.

Like many agents, he will look to work with vendors and buyers in an online environment with virtual auctions.

“The strategy from here is to work with people online because properties will still sell,” Mr D’Amico said.

While some have moved their sales forward, other vendors will be looking to sell via a virtual auction. 

That’s the case for Margaret Yap who is selling her family home in Glen Waverley on April 18. 

She and her husband had listed the home for a public auction before the restrictions for the coronavirus were put in place, but now says she is “embracing the future”.

“There is a lot of nervousness and all that,” Ms Yap told Domain. “At the moment I haven’t thought about the next stage yet [of buying], I just want to get the result first.”

Ms Yap said she would be looking to downsize with her husband, as her son would soon be moving out of home.

She would be asking the buyer for a longer settlement to see them both through the self-isolation period now in place.

“I’m going to negotiate with the buyer and see what suits the best,” Ms Yap said. “Right now I think we need to be flexible.”

Melbourne-based Upside Realty’s Jake Johnson said agents were now coming to terms with the changes to sales, even if there were to be total self-isolation across the city.

Most would be turning to online selling and buying, although he believed the number of sales would slow down.

“There’s just so much going on right now, there’s never been anything like this before,” Mr Johnson said.

In Brisbane, McGrath auctioneer Ben Cannon said the company had started virtual auctions two weeks ago when news of the seriousness of the coronavirus in Australia started to ramp up.

“The response has been really strong,” Mr Cannon said. “The numbers of inquiries are showing there’s still quality buyers out there.”

Like other agencies, Mr Cannon said some vendors had brought their auctions forward to beat the government deadline.

“There’s a piece of the market that is always moving and that is based on circumstances and timing – based on their life and needs – and not what the market is doing,” Mr Cannon said. “Even if it’s a total lockdown, we’re confident we can still sell.”