November 9th REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2020
For sale and lease search volumes recorded another moderate fall last week.
The latest realcommercial.com.au data shows that the volume of buyer searches fell for the second consecutive week last week, down -1.0 per cent.
While national buyer search volumes fell last week, only New South Wales (-2.0%), South Australia (-2.8%) and Australian Capital Territory (-1.7%) recorded declines, while the largest increases were recorded in Northern Territory (15.6%) and Tasmania (7.2%).
Nationally, for sale search volumes are currently -4.0 per cent lower than they were at their historic peak, with Northern Territory the only state/territory still at an all-time high.
Relative to their historic peak, for sale searches are furthest away currently in Tasmania (-14.2%) and Australian Capital Territory (-10.3%) and closest in New South Wales (-2.0%) and Western Australia (-3.3%).
Compared to the same time last year, buyer search volumes are currently 20.7 per cent higher and up across all states.
The largest year-on-year increases in for sale searches have been recorded in Northern Territory (147.4%) and Australian Capital Territory (91.8%) and the smallest in Victoria (8.7%) and Queensland (18.8%).
Lease search volumes fell for their second consecutive week last week, down -4.2 per cent which was their largest weekly fall in 13 weeks.
Only Tasmania (0.1%) and Northern Territory (3.1%) recorded weekly increases in lease search volumes, while the largest falls were recorded in Victoria (-6.6%) and South Australia (-5.4%).
The volume of lease searches last week was -9.5 per cent lower than its historic peak and down across each of the states.
The smallest overall falls in lease search volumes have occurred in Northern Territory (-9.7%) and Queensland (-9.8%) and the largest in Tasmania (-26.5%) and Australian Capital Territory (-22.3%).
While there has been some recent declines in lease search volumes, last week they were 30.2 per cent higher than at the same time last year and higher in all states.
The smallest year-on-year increases in lease search volumes have been recorded in South Australia (10.3%) and Queensland (21.4%) and the largest in Northern Territory (51.5%) and New South Wales (26.4%).
There has been some recent weakness in search volumes for properties for sale and lease, however, there have also been a number of public holidays over recent weeks, which have likely impacted volumes.
Despite the recent weakness, search volumes remain much higher than they were a year ago – a trend I expect to continue.
With businesses re-opening across the country but the scars of the recession to be felt for some time, it seems likely that some tenancies will become available and some businesses requirements are likely to change over the coming months and years. As a result I expect we will continue to see a lot of interest in what commercial properties are available for sale and lease.
