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Business closures, a rapidly rising unemployment level and a plummeting share market have been the immediate major impacts of the unprecedented government measures put in place in March to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The government restrictions also include measures that will directly affect the real estate market in Australia.

Auctions and open house inspections were banned from midnight on Wednesday 25 March for the foreseeable future. Almost 2,600 auctions that were scheduled to go ahead in the last weekend of March alone across Australia were immediately cancelled.

Buyers, sellers and agents will have to rely on online auction, virtual property tours and private inspections while the restrictions are in place.

Many lenders (including the big 4 banks) are also offering coronavirus home loan relief packages to borrowers, enabling them to suspend their repayments for up to 6 months.

Almost lost in all of the other coronavirus news was the decision of the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates by a further 0.25 per cent in early March. This is the fourth interest rate cut in Australia since mid-2019.

Download and read the full Market Essentials – April 2020 Report.