The auctioneer stood in front of an almost empty room and empty chairs.
Real estate agents were spaced two metres apart, taking bids from buyers from their phones.
It was a new reality agents faced following the fallout of Covid-19, withthe final few auctions taking place just hours before a full country lockdown earlier this week.
Ironically, the final property to sell under the hammer in the Tremains auction room on March 25 was on Jacinda Close.
General manager of Tremains Bay of Plenty and Waikato, Anton Jones, said a house in Pyes Pa was the company's last auction before alert level 4 lockdown on March 25.
Jones said the home was on Jacinda Close - the same name as the Prime Minister Jacinda Arden who was leading the country through the Covid 19 crisis.
Auctioned by Richard Kerr, the three-bedroom house at 15 Jacinda Close sold under the hammer.
But it was an eerie feeling for the agents inside the auction room.
A home on 15 Jacinda Close was the final auction for Tremains before lockdown. Photo / Supplied
"We did it so that none of the buyers were in the room, they were all registered telephone bidders. Agents in the room kept their distance."
Jones said March was proving to be a record month for the company until things started to slowdown following the fallout of Covid-19.
Tremains Tauranga real estate agents Barry Fredheim and Karen Wills, who sold the home, said there had been plenty of interest in the home.
Wills said the day was "extremely busy" and Covid-19 had created some urgency among buyers, however, some sellers had decided to wait until after the lockdown.
The pair said the feeling inside the auction room was "surreal".
"The usual energetic, nervousness and excitement wasn't there," Wills said.
