The importance of information in the age of COVID-19

While September is usually selling time for agents, Mr Panos highlighted that sellers are struggling to read the market, with informed opinion likely to help agents.

“I had a conversation this morning with someone. He asked me whether he should put his property on the market right now in the middle of winter or should he wait till September,” he said. 

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. But let’s put down these factors in there. What we know is right now, it appears to be a seller’s market because there’s no stock.

“What we know now is that people are getting JobKeeper. What we know now is that unemployment is 7 per cent. What we know now is that a lot of people haven’t put their property on the market because of mortgage stress,” Mr Panos explained.

He said we don’t know whether those factors will remain in September and October as the economy moves out of COVID-19 recession, or whether the housing market will slide as government support is rescinded. 

With this, he encouraged real estate agents to remain informed of the latest information in order to properly conduct business.

Mr Tarrant reiterated this by stating that real estate agents and mortgage brokers cannot effectively do their jobs without keeping up with current worldwide events.

“But mortgage brokers act within a community and have a more aggregate view of what’s going on in the world, understanding trade conflict, understanding Australia’s part of the world and its contested environment, and understanding the United States’ relationship with China,” he stated.

Mr Tarrant continued to explain how this impacts the Australian economy.

“Understanding these wider issues, which are shaping decision making within leadership here in Australia, and how our economy reacts to it is absolute fundamental information any real estate agent or mortgage broker should know as part of doing their job effectively,” Mr Tarrant concluded.