May 3 REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2021

After steadily rising over the previous three weeks, searches in both the ‘for sale’ and ‘for lease’ sections of realcommercial.com.au dipped slightly last week.

Searches to buy commercial property decreased by 1.4% over the past week, though movement was mixed across the states. Compared to a year ago, ‘for sale’ searches are 37.5% higher.

This time last year Australia’s COVID-19 case numbers were flattening and confidence was improving, which largely accounts for the downward trend we’re seeing in year-on-year growth.

By state, South Australia saw the largest fall in week-on-week searches to buy commercial property, down 8.7%. Victoria (-2.8%), Western Australia (-1.5%) and Queensland (-1.5%) also saw declines in ‘for sale’ searches.

Search volumes were up in the remaining states, with the Northern Territory (3.6%) and Tasmania (2%) recording the strongest, albeit moderate, growth.

Searches to lease commercial property were also down over the week, falling 3%. Compared to a year ago, ‘for lease’ searches are 32.9% higher.

Again, movement across the states was mixed, with South Australia seeing the largest weekly decline in searches at -13.3%, followed by the Australian Capital Territory at -9.9%.

The Northern Territory and New South Wales were the only states to see lease search volumes up over the week, though these increases were small at 1.9% and 1.2% respectively.

The weekly decline in volumes in both the buy and lease sections can in part be attributed to the fact that we are returning to more ‘normal’ market conditions following the post-Easter increase in business activity.