Illawarra agents, auctioneers on open homes and on-site auctions no longer being banned

"Like the GFC or anything like that, the perception out there is that people are going to pick up a bargain (because of the coronavirus pandemic), but that's actually not reality," Wollongong auctioneer Ben Mitchell said.

"That's because of supply and demand. There's actually a massive shortage of stock still."

Read more: Trever Molenaar, chairman of the Real Estate Institute Illawarra supports proposed real estate training reforms

The NSW property industry has been given a boost, after the state government announced the ban on public open homes and on-site auctions would be lifted from this weekend.

The bans were put in place on March 25 to help combat the spread of COVID-19.

In the meantime, the real estate industry transitioned to online auctions, and property inspections by appointment or online.

Mr Mitchell has been an auctioneer for more than a decade, conducting sales throughout NSW, primarily in the Illawarra and Sydney.

He said the past several weeks had been a challenging time for the market.

However, he said the industry had "handled it well", adapting and maintaining a degree of consistency.

"I had about 180 auctions booked in last month, mainly in the Illawarra and Sydney, and I think I ended up calling about 40 or 50 of those," he told the Mercury.

"A lot withdrew, a lot sold prior... But the ones we did call had to be done digitally only via an online platform."

Mr Mitchell said he believed there would be some who may still be "cautious" and "hesitant" about attending an on-site, face-to-face auction this weekend.

"Fortunately with the systems we've used, you're able to do a bit of a hybrid of both," he said.

"You can do it live with a person standing in front of you, but also at the same time you can have people online."

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Health Brad Hazzard told the Domain Group the relaxing of restrictions was a sign of the ongoing success in limiting the spread of COVID-19, but warned there was no place for complacency, with community safety and social distancing to remain an ongoing priority.

Trever Molenaar, Real Estate Institute Illawarra chairman, and also of the Molenaar + McNeice agency, said sellers would be pleased by the lifting of the bans.

"Private inspections do take a long time to co-ordinate, especially if you're cleaning up your house for one inspection every other day, (versus) doing it once and getting most of the buyers through at that time.

"I think buyers will be happy too because it's just easier for them."

Mr Molenaar said many parties had "sat on their hands" during recent weeks, waiting to see what would happen with the market.

"This happens with all major events, like it happened with the global financial crisis," he said. "People just stop, so the volume comes down. But what we've seen, and I've spoken to a few mortgage brokers, is the amount of loans that they're processing is still quite high.

"So there's still a lot of buyers coming in. But there's not a lot of sellers, so the prices are actually going up in some pockets of the market."

Meanwhile, Mr Molenaar believed agents would now interact more with clients via Zoom or Skype.

"Maybe it didn't feel natural before, but now we've been doing it so often I think clients are used to it," he said.

Read more: Illawarra real estate agents adjusting to changes to industry in the wake of coronavirus