The one area that continues to steam along though is the ongoing demand for housing blocks, with the record low interest rates a driving factor.

And depending on who you speak to, it could be the rental market that has experienced the greatest COVID impact at this stage.

That was the overarching state of play this week when the Mercury contacted four local real estate agencies - Dowling, Ray White, Peters and Valley - to get their feedback on what has been happening since open houses were permissible once more, although obviously hindered by social distancing requirements.

Mark Roffey of Ray White said the market had been remarkably steady throughout an unpredictable period.

"I don't think anyone could be sure how it would play out," he said.

"We found that while prices have remained steady, it has been a fickle sort of market.

"There was still interest from buyers for sure - that didn't drop off - but it wasn't reciprocated from the other side of the market. A good number of people who were getting ready to sell prior to COVID-19 have pulled out to see how things evolve.

"I'd say four out of five vendors have decided to wait. So it has meant a significant drop in listings and market appraisals."

Mr Roffey said that because there are fewer houses available, prices have remained steady.

"I'm actually telling people who are thinking of selling that now is a good time because there aren't a lot of houses on the market now," he said.

With winter near, he expects things to remain quiet possibly until spring.

"But then I think there will be a lot more houses that hit the market, and that's when you might see some price fluctuations.

"As far as online sales go, it's pretty clear that when it comes to buying a house, people aren't as comfortable doing it online.

"They still want to go there and see it and touch it. I can understand that. It's a lot of money to spend."

Tim Peters, principal of Peters Real Estate, said low interest rates have counterracted any pandemic concerns and that housing block sales in particular were strong.

"We sell a lot of land and last week we exchanged on 13 blocks across St Helena at Lochinvar, Hillview at Louth Park and acreages at Maitland Vale," he said. "That's as good as it gets.

"I know there are concerns out there about COVID-19, but those low interest rates have definitely underpinned the market."

Mr Peters said it wasn't first home buyers, but second or third home buyers.

"It's people wanting lifestyle options," he said. "At St Helena the land size is 800 sq/m, so you might get a family from a 600sq/m block at, say, Aberglasslyn looking to move.

"The blocks are bigger again at Hillview and Maitland Vale.

"I think the housing market now is ticking over mostly people going through a settlement, or maybe a deceased estate, or a job transfer."

Dowling agrees that prices have remained unchanged on the houses, but they've noticed a change in the rental market.

"A couple of weeks back we had a spike in the number of people moving out of rental properties," office manager Monique Campbell said.

"It was probably double what we would normally expect, but that seems to have steadied now. I'd think it probably coincided with the number of people who were suddenly out of work or on reduced hours."

And the selling market?

"We've been fairly steady throughout. All the properties seemed to go within the selling range we expected."

Sophie Arbela of Valley Estate Agents agreed that there had been some rental pressure, but from their perspective JobKeeper and Centrelink support meant that very few of their renters had been forced to leave.