Real estate agents in the east of Christchurch say the decision to zone areas as being vulnerable to sea level rise will have a lasting impact, even though it's now been placed on hold.
The government is removing a controversial chapter from Christchurch's district plan review that would have classed 18,000 properties as being vulnerable to inundation from the sea.
One real estate agent said numbers attending open homes had halved since the original announcement and she knew of four cases where deals had fallen through because of it.
Another agent, Jane Meyer, is welcoming the hold that has now been placed on the changes, but said it may be too late.
She said people were now aware coastal areas had been labelled as vulnerable and once a label like this was applied, it was hard for it to be removed.
She said it was unfair to dump these changes on a community that had already been through a lot with the earthquakes.