Newcastle real estate veteran Steve Owens has slammed the NSW government for continuing to allow Sydney buyers and agents to inspect property in the Hunter.
"We want protection, and we're not getting it," Mr Owens said, pointing the finger at the government and the Real Estate Institute of NSW for their "lack of support" on the issue.
Mr Owens is a property valuer and has been in the industry in Newcastle for 50 years.
He said REINSW should be doing more to pressure the government to close a loophole which allows Sydney buyers and agents to travel to Newcastle for inspections and open houses.
"The estate agents in this town are annoyed and pissed off and scared. We're scared; it's as simple as that," he said.
"I don't want to be the guy who has someone come up and talk to them and bring the COVID up from Sydney.
"We've had no support from the Real Estate Institute."
REINSW chief executive Tim McKibbin said the institute was "providing information and tools for agents to comply with their public health order requirements".
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Stay-at-home orders issued for Greater Sydney on June 26 by Health Minister Brad Hazzard say "inspecting a potential new place of residence" is a "reasonable excuse" for leaving home. The orders do not limit such an inspection to the Greater Sydney area.
The same orders ban open houses in the Greater Sydney area, but the loophole allows Sydney people to drive to regional NSW for open houses.
"That's bulls---. If you live in Bankstown and you want to live in Annandale, fine. They're both in the zone," Mr Owens said.
"But you can't come from Bankstown to Lake Macquarie, to Charlestown, but, according to this, you can."
The northern end of the Central Coast has recorded eight active cases of infection in the past few days, bringing the coronavirus to the Hunter's doorstep.
Stay-at-home orders are in place in the Orange, Cabonne and Blayney local government areas after two removalists travelled through the area while infectious. One person in the Central West region has tested positive.
"I have a friend in Orange with a real estate agency and he's shut down because of what they've done there," Mr Owens said.
The estate agents in this town are annoyed and p---ed off and scared. We're scared; it's as simple as that.
Steve Owens
The Lower Hunter has had two scares in recent weeks after positive cases visited a 7-Eleven at Thornton and a Wallsend service station.
Politicians have also railed against the government for allowing construction workers to travel from Sydney to the Hunter and other regional areas, even though building sites in Greater Sydney are closed.
Hunter New England Health public health physician Dr David Durrheim told the Newcastle Herald recently that buying property "in my mind does not fall within the public's consideration of a reasonable excuse".
"Basic supplies, seeking medical care: Those are the sorts of reasonable excuses," he said.
