Hi everyone, well, there’s certainly been a number of developments within the property sector since we last communicated. First one probably being the focus on the omnibus legislation that went through Parliament a week or two ago now, focusing very much more on the rental side of things.
So what that’s done is given a bit more certainty and a bit more of a guiding light for both landlords and tenants to work through how they can best work together in order to support one another. So obviously where tenants need to have some rent relief, but also where landlords who perhaps are under some stress as well because obviously this pandemic’s not limited just to tenants. There’s many, many landlords that are suffering as well, so the support mechanisms that are now in place around the rent relief fund, but also the land tax reductions as well. So there’s a number of different ways that the government is trying to support both parties, which is really good to see.
There’s still a few uncertainties there, which I know many property managers are working their way through. We’re certainly doing that with a number of ours at present. We’re also putting together a two part webinar series which will hopefully give some guidance as well. So keep an eye out for that on both social media and through our mail outs as well.
Now, the second side of things is the changes to the actual sales and rental inspection and auction process. So as of Wednesday morning this week, we can now have open for inspections and attend with up to 10 people in a property at a time from an OFI perspective, plus agents as well. And then from an auction perspective, we can have 10 attendees plus agents and vendors as well. So I’m not expecting this to lead to an avalanche of properties coming onto the market, but what it will do is allow perhaps those that are already going down the sale path and have committed to that process, or perhaps those that really need to sell and are looking for some light at the end of the tunnel, it just gives some options. So it’s now allowing people to have a different method of sale to consider. The other thing to continuously bear in mind though is that the auction process works best when you’ve got multiple buyers looking to purchase the property.
So if the demand for the property that you’re looking to sell, from a vendor’s perspective, is still perhaps a little bit light on, then just because you can auction doesn’t mean you necessarily should. So always keep that in mind. The thing that everyone though is keeping very much a close eye on is the September, October period when perhaps there won’t be quite as much support from the government and the banks will start to wind things back as well. So then that’s when the market will need to stand on its own two feet. So certainly something to keep a very close eye on as time progresses.
Take care of yourselves and your families and friends, and look forward to speaking to you soon, thank you.
