PHOTO: NZ Real Estate Agents
The government did not consider the real estate sector as one of the essential services to Kiwis during the COVID-19 alert level 4 lockdown. As a result, experts expect sales to drop and agents to leave the market.
Brad Olsen, an economist at Infometrics, said house prices could drop between 5% and 10% over the next 12 to 18 months. Therefore, agents and salespeople are more likely to leave the sector.
“I’d expect the number of real estate agents to fall, with a lack of activity making the real estate industry a much more competitive market for agents. With employment across the economy set to take a hammering, and house prices set to fall, there simply won’t be as much work in the real estate industry, which will force agents to reassess their work and business,” Olsen told Stuff.co.nz.
Meanwhile, CoreLogic predicted 15% to 20% fewer sales activities this year than last year as the lockdown put the majority of the sector’s activities on hold.
“We have to hope the effects of the virus will be relatively short-lived, with any impending transactions simply deferred, leading to catch-up in the following months. But clearly, there is going to be a significant slowdown in property market activity to get through until an eventual recovery begins,” Nick Goodall, head of research at CoreLogic, told Stuff.co.nz.
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