You could argue the Australian property market has never been “hotter”.

That is, property price growth is at or near record highs, repaying a mortgage has never been cheaper and buying a first home has never been harder (in terms of the size of the deposit required).

But what is it actually like selling property right now?

We just sold our two-bedroom apartment in Sydney and I was genuinely shocked by the market’s appetite for a new listing. The speed at which it sold — in just 10 days — points to a once-in-a-generation property market phenomenon.

An already existing property boom has been raised to a whole new level with the aid of the pandemic — and the supply shortfall that came with it.

It’s in a time like this you can learn a thing or two about how the housing market, and its participants, operate — because otherwise subtle or niche developments become more obvious.

Lesson one: Demand is strong

The pandemic has revealed the strength of the demand for both apartment and detached houses, especially when supply is constrained.

We prepared ourselves to move all the clutter from our place to and from the garage at least four or five times so prospective buyers could move through the open home inspections without tripping over a toy or two.

As it happened, we did that just twice: Our property was on the market for 10 days in total.

The statistics were extraordinary. Within the first 48 hours of the property being advertised there were 80 inquiries.

The first Saturday open home saw 21 people move through the apartment (one at a time), and seven of those asked for contracts. Within the first week our online property listing had clocked up 1,000 page views.

There was a second open home on Wednesday.

An offer was made on Thursday and a bidding process began over the phone and on email. It was finalised on Friday evening with an exchange of contracts.

Due diligence was done; all parties had lawyers in tow, and strata and building reports were requested and downloaded.

However, apart from all parties concerned abiding by Real Estate Institute and Department of Fair Trading guidelines, there were no rules.

The bottom line was a property was for sale in an area where supply was low — very low — and both investors and owner occupiers were waiting to snap it up.

The demand in the market was so strong that the idea of a Saturday street auction — once the norm in Sydney — was never really entertained. Indeed, an auction date was never set.

Our experience, it turns out, was a microcosm of the greater Sydney market.

According to CoreLogic there were 841 auctions held in Sydney last week, compared to 786 over the previous week and 812 over the same week last year, overtaking the previous week as the busiest auction week for Sydney since late June.