August 24th REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2020

Buyer search volumes on realcommercial.com.au increased again last week and are now at a record high.

After a 12.3 per cent increase in ‘for sale’ commercial searches the week before last, volumes rose a further 2.0 per cent last week.

As a result, buyer search volumes on realcommercial.com.au are now at an all-time high.

The largest weekly increases were felt in the Northern Territory (23.5%) and Australian Capital Territory (10.8%). The only state or territory to record a fall last week was Western Australia (-7.5%).

The states/territories that remain below their peak are Victoria (-5.7%), Western Australia (-7.5%), Tasmania (-13.7%) and Australian Capital Territory (-3.6%).

Across all states, search volumes were higher last week than at the same time last year. Nationally searches are up 18.7 per cent year-on-year.

The largest year-on-year increases in for sale search have been recorded in Australian Capital Territory (81.8%) and Northern Territory (79.0%, while the smallest increases have been in Victoria (8.9%) and Tasmania (13.6%).

For lease search volumes increased by 3.0 per cent last week following an 11.6 per cent rise the previous week. For lease search volumes are now -9.1 per cent lower than their peak.

Tasmania was the only state to record a fall in lease searches last week (-2.0%), while the largest rises were recorded in Australian Capital Territory (17.5%) and Northern Territory (14.9%).

Lease search volumes are lower than their peak in all states, with the largest declines in Victoria (-26.6%) and Norther Territory (-12.1%) and the smallest falls in South Australia (-2.5%) and Queensland (-3.1%).

Nationally, lease search volumes were 18.3 per cent higher last week than they were over the same week last year.

Victoria is the only state in which lease searches last week are lower than a year ago (-6.0%), with the largest increases having been recorded in Western Australia (31.2%) and Tasmania (29.8%).

The last few weeks have seen large increases in search volumes for commercial properties.

As the economy continues to re-open in most states and lockdowns near their end in Victoria, it appears businesses are becoming more serious about evaluating and assessing their accommodation needs.

Given this, I would expect search volumes for commercial properties to remain high over the coming weeks.