June 29th REA Insights Weekly Commercial Property Search Report, 2020

The volume of searches on realcommercial.com.au for properties for sale and for rent fell last week.

For sale searches slid by -1.2 per cent, marking just the second weekly fall in search volumes over the past 13 weeks.

Western Australia and Northern Territory were the only states/territories in which search volumes didn’t fall last week while Queensland and New South Wales recorded the largest weekly falls.

Although search volumes for properties for sale fell last week, they have increased by 92.0 per cent from their recent low and are 12.5 per cent higher than they were a year ago.

Searches for commercial properties for sale have more than trebled since their recent low in Australian Capital Territory and have more than doubled in Victoria, South Australia and Northern Territory while Tasmania has recorded the smallest rise.

Tasmanian search volumes for commercial properties for sale are now lower than they were a year ago, while all other states have recorded a rise, the largest of which have been recorded in Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory.

Like searches for commercial sales, commercial lease searches fell last week. The drop of -4.1 per cent was also just the second weekly fall recorded in the past 13 weeks.

Tasmania was the only state in which lease search volumes rose last week, with falls in excess of 5 per cent recorded in New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory.

Lease search volumes have risen 166.6 per cent from their recent low and have more than doubled across each states over the period with the largest increases in Victoria and Northern Territory and the smallest in Western Australia and Tasmania.

Year-on-year lease search volumes have recorded the smallest increases in Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia and the largest increases in Victoria and New South Wales.

Despite the weekly fall in search volumes for commercial properties I would expect that interest will remain high. With some businesses likely to go out-of-business in the recession and others looking to save costs, undoubtedly commercial premises are one area where most businesses have some significant scope to make cost savings.