March 29 REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2021
The continued rise in search volumes on realcommercial.com.au signals growing demand for commercial property in Australia.
Searches to buy commercial property broke another record last week, rising 3.7% to reach a new high.
South Australia saw the strongest rise in ‘For sale’ searches over the past week, up 13.2%, followed by the Australian Capital Territory (10.6%) and Victoria (8.7%). Western Australia (-1.2%) and New South Wales (-0.2%) were the only states to see a decline in search volumes, albeit slight.
Year-on-year growth figures remain inflated due to the impact of lockdown measures during March 2020. As a result, search volumes in every state were at or above double the level recorded 12 months ago, with national volumes up 157%.
After reaching a record-high last week, searches to lease commercial property stabilised, recording a slight decline of -0.2% nationally.
The weekly change in ‘For lease’ search volumes was a mixed bag across the states. The Northern Territory saw the strongest week-on-week change in lease searches, up 5.6%. Positive growth was also recorded in the Australian Capital Territory (4.2%), Victoria (3.8%), Western Australia (1.8%) and Queensland (1.4%).
In contrast, lease searches were down over the week in New South Wales (-3.8%), South Australia (-1.8%) and Tasmania (-0.9%).
As with ‘For sale’, ‘For lease’ searches were well above the levels seen at the same time last year, with national levels 200% higher.
As restrictions continue to ease across most of Australia, confidence in commercial property is likely to continue strengthening. This is expected to support search volumes over the coming months as demand from both investors and occupiers recovers.
