Advisers ready for extended lockdown

Mortgage advisers in Auckland are ready to operate under the extended lockdown, as the government brings back the mortgage deferral scheme and wage subsidy programme.

Monday, August 17th 2020, 7:52AM

The government announced on Friday that the level three lockdown in Auckland would continue until August 26, with the rest of the country in level two until then.

As the extension was confirmed, the government moved to prolong the mortgage deferral scheme, which was due to expire on September 27.

Details, including the length of the extension, are being finalised and will be confirmed this week, finance minister Grant Robertson.

The government is also working on plans to extend the wage subsidy scheme, which will have similar criteria to the scheme put in place during the first lockdown. The new subsidy will cover the extended lockdown period.

Mortgage advisers are positive that the housing market will continue. Property viewings can still take place at alert level three.

Top advisers were preparing for a longer lockdown as Auckland went into level three last week.

Kris Pedersen said last week he was "already planning for this being in place for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer". He said: "I’m not too concerned at present. Settlements should still be able to go through in most cases. It may have mean less stock on the market which has already started becoming an issue."

He added: "We’ll do what we did through lockdown so more zoom meetings and use the time to do more online events to connect to our client base. We deal with a lot of clients outside Auckland so it should be business as normal."

AdviceHQ's David Green said a longer lockdown would impact confidence further, but said businesses would be prepared to work online.

Green added last week: "AdviceHQ is business as usual, we operate a large part of the business online. Clients have also adopted to the new way of working but still benefit from high quality independent advice."

Tags: Covid-19