September 28th REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2020

For the third consecutive week both for sale and lease search volumes have increased on realcommercial.com.au.

Last week there was a 2.6 per cent increase in for sales search volumes, which was the third consecutive rise and took national volumes just -0.2 per cent lower than their peak.

Over the past week, commercial search volumes increased in all states, with the smallest rises in Queensland (1.5%) and New South Wales (2.7%) and the largest increases in Western Australia (9.9%) and Northern Territory (8.4%).

For sale search volumes remain below their peak in all states, with the smallest overall falls in South Australia (-1.5%) and New South Wales (-1.6%) and the largest falls in Northern Territory (-24.3%) and Australian Capital Territory (-11.9%).

Compared to the same week last year buyer search volumes are up 29.2 per cent.

The smallest year-on-year for sale search increases have been recorded in Victoria (17.5%) and New South Wales (24.2%) and the largest in Australian Capital Territory (92.8%) and Northern Territory (68.3%).

Weekly volumes of searches for properties for lease increased by 2.9 per cent last week, which was the third consecutive weekly increase and took volumes to -6.5 per cent lower than their peak.

Lease search volumes rose last week in each states except New South Wales (-1.5%). The largest rises were  in Australian Capital Territory (22.1%) and Northern Territory (16%).

Last week saw record lease search volumes in South Australia, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. The largest overall declines from peak have been recorded in Victoria (-15.7%) and New South Wales (-8.9%).

Lease search volumes last week were 37 per cent higher than they were at the same time last year.

Tasmania (52.3%), Northern Territory (67.8%) and Australian Capital Territory (50.1%) have recorded year-on-year increases of more than 50 per cent, while the smallest rises have been recorded in New South Wales (27.3%) and Western Australia (31.8%).

With COVID-19 infection rates trending lower and restrictions continuing to ease, I expect that search volumes for commercial properties will continue to remain high.

This will be driven by businesses continuing to look for expansion in certain areas while others looking for consolidation or cheaper accommodation (office and retail mainly).