Dubbo agents are doing their best to stop residents from Greater Sydney coming to the region, despite Public Health Orders allowing them to do so.
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The Real Estate Institute of NSW said an exemption to the order allows Greater Sydney residents to travel to regional areas to attend an open or onsite auction if the property would be a "place of residence".
Despite the lockdown, there has been an increase in Sydneysiders looking at Dubbo as a place to relocate or invest, but inspections are being conducted virtually via video or photos.
Matt Hansen Real Estate director Matt Hansen said they have had lots of Sydney-based inquiries on Dubbo homes on the market.
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"We noticed a spike in inquires when the Sydney lockdown started," he said.
Mr Hansen said most inquiries have been made by email and over the phone.
Likewise, many inspections for Sydney buyers have been conducted virtually, although NSW Government Public Health Orders state those in lockdown areas can attend open houses in regional NSW as long as they are buying "a place of residence.
"A reasonable excuse to leave includes inspecting a potential new home. If that home is outside of Greater Sydney, then opens and auctions may still be conducted and there does not appear to be any prohibition in the public health order preventing you from attending," the Real Estate Institute of NSW said.
There is advice from Fair Trading that moving home is a reason for leaving a lockdown area, but I don't feel the community has widely accepted that. I think most people would see that as a frowned upon exercise
- Matt Hansen
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Mr Hansen said they had been doing virtual tours, and linking up with potential buyers through messenger and Facetime.
"We've had lots of virtual inspections, lots of high-quality virtual tours and photos," Mr Hansen said.
"There is advice from Fair Trading that moving home is a reason for leaving a lockdown area, but I don't feel the community has widely accepted that. I think most people would see that as a frowned upon exercise."
That being said, Mr Hansen said he has not had anyone from Sydney come to an open home in Dubbo in person within at least four weeks.
"It has been one of the best months we've ever had, we've sold and exchanged 17 properties in 30 days, which is a record for our office and that's with Sydney lockdowns on, so it certainly hasn't slowed us down at all," he said.
Ray White Dubbo's Brian McAneney said it's not only Sydneysiders with eyes on Dubbo. "There's been very good interest from metropolitan buyers, not only Sydney but Newcastle and Wollongong, certainly active in the Dubbo market," he said.
Mr McAnenery said there 'certainly' had been buyers from metropolitan areas on the grounds in Dubbo prior to the lockdown.
"The current lockdown has prevented them coming at this point but prior to that they certainly had been coming to look in person," he said.
One Dubbo property that is high on the radar of metropolitan buyers is the Miriam property, located on Old Dubbo Road.
"We have four or five groups wanting to inspect the property from Sydney and also Newcastle," he said.
"We've extended expressions of interest for that specific property until the end of August to accommodate the metropolitan buyers.
"The Sydney people, unfortunately, can't come at the moment, technically they could, but they haven't, so we've extended it for a month."
The generous 83.4ha of development land shares both Macquarie Street frontage and 2.5 km of Macquarie
The Miriam property is a generous 83.4 hectares with a river frontage.
Expressions of interest for the Miriam property will now close on Tuesday, August 31.
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