July 26 REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2021
Searches to buy and lease commercial property continued to slow last week as South Australia became the third state to implement a lockdown.
Searches to buy property on realcommercial.com.au declined by a further 1.3% last week, driven by a sharp decline in South Australia.
Despite the fall, demand remains up from last year, with buyer searches sitting 30.2% higher.
Buyer searches showed mixed movement across the states. South Australia (-16.7%) recorded the largest fall in searches over the week, followed by the Northern Territory (-13.6%) and New South Wales (-4.1%). Searches were also down in the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia.
Tasmania and Victoria, in contrast, saw the strongest growth over the week, with buyer searches up 3.9% and 2.5% respectively.
Despite recent declines, buyer searches are at least 10% higher in every state compared to last year’s levels.
Searches to lease commercial property have been more impacted than the buyer category, falling by 7.9% over the week and 2.1% over the year. Once again, South Australia and New South Wales drove much of the decline.
Searches to lease commercial property fell in every state and territory last week, with the largest falls recorded in South Australia (-30.1%) and New South Wales (-11.8%).
Comparing year-on-year, lease searches are now 23.7% lower in New South Wales and 15.7% lower in South Australia.
As COVID-19 cases continue to climb in New South Wales, there is a growing expectation that the current lockdown will be extended. Faced with growing uncertainty, some businesses may delay their leasing decisions and searches are likely to remain subdued.
