TECHNOLOGY has been a defining factor for the survival of the real estate sector through rolling lockdowns, Dye & Durham Managing Director Peter Maloney has told Ticker News.
During a live interview with the international news service, Mr Maloney said the past 18 months had prompted real estate agents and conveyancers across Australia to embrace innovation.
Ticker News Host Adrian Franklin and Dye & Durham Managing Director Peter Maloney
“It has been remarkable since the night of March 25th 2020, when the Prime Minister said no more auctions from midnight tonight. And I think what we saw was the entire real estate industry really having to make that monumental shift,” Mr Maloney told Ticker News host Adrian Franklin.
“We saw virtual auctions and inspections and then saw the whole process of buying and selling become digitised in a mainstream way.”
“Thinks like DocuSign have seen a real uptake which we have been able to support through our services here at Dye & Durham.”
Mr Maloney said the change also enabled a population shift from lockdown centres to other states.
“People are buying sight unseen not just for their investment properties but for the homes they plan to live in,” Mr Maloney said.
“You would think it was the lockdown states that people were buying sight unseen but that is not actually the case. It is actually in the non-lockdown states. There was a mass population migration happening out of NSW and Victoria and into places like Queensland.
“What the consumer was saying was, ‘hey, I need to get out of here, and I need my ticket to freedom,’ and buying sight unseen over the internet – it is quite remarkable.”
Into the next year, Mr Maloney said Dye and Durham would help customers digitise and further streamline their purchasing processes.
“Consumers now are in the state of mind where they want to use technology that is completely ‘frictionless’. For example, they want to use mobiles to do banking, so why not use them to sign legal documents or ensure verification?
“Even as the lockdowns end, we are seeing this trend continue; people trust the technology and know it is giving them access to a broader real estate market than ever before.
“We buy everything else online; why not our home?”
According to ABS data, in the first quarter of 2021, 30,000 NSW locals and 23,771 Victorians left their home state, many of whom purchased new homes in Queensland sight unseen, unable to travel without proof of residency.
Queensland gained an extra 583 residents per week over the same period.