November 16th REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2020

After consecutive weekly falls, for sale and lease search volumes on realcommercial.com.au rose last week.

For sale search volumes increased by 2.4 per cent last week.

There was a fall in for sale search volumes last week in New South Wales (-2.4%), South Australia (-0.1%) and Australian Capital Territory (-16.4%), with increases elsewhere, the largest of which were in Western Australia (4.6%) and Tasmania (4.3%).

The volume of for sale searches last week was just -1.6 per cent below its historic peak.

Last week, for sale search volumes reached historic-highs in Western Australia and Northern Territory, while Tasmania (-10.4%) and Australian Capital Territory (-25.0%) were the only states where searches were more than 7 per cent below their peak.

Compared to the same week last year, for sale search volumes have increased by 24.5 per cent, with the year-on-year increase now trending higher.

Northern Territory (129.9%) and Western Australia (46.5%) have recorded the largest year-on-year increases in for sale search volumes while Victoria (9.7%) and New South Wales (21.8%) have seen the smallest rises.

Lease search volumes rose for the first time in three weeks last week, up by 3.5 per cent throughout the week.

New South Wales (-0.6%) and Northern Territory (-0.8%) were the only states in which lease search volumes fell last week, while Victoria (9.7%) and Tasmania (8.3%) recorded the largest increases.

Last week’s lease search volumes were -6.3 per cent below their historic-highs and lower than the peak across each state.

Lease search volumes in Australian Capital Territory (-21.6%) and Tasmania (-20.5%) have recorded the largest overall falls from their peak and Queensland (-5.8%) and Western Australia (-8.4%) the smallest.

Despite some recent weakness in lease search volumes, they were 32.7 per cent higher last week than they were at the same time last year and they are higher across all states.

Northern Territory (43.5%) and New South Wales (32.0%) have recorded the largest year-on-year increases and Australian Capital Territory (14.9%) and South Australia (18.9%) the smallest.

For sale and lease search volumes look set to remain relatively high over the coming weeks as the economy continues to re-open and businesses get back to more normal conditions.

As the economy rebounds the financial position of businesses become clearer, allowing them to make a better assessment of their accommodation needs going forward.

Given this I expect that we will continue to see heightened interest in properties listed for sale or rent on realcommercial.com.au.