September 6 REA Insights Weekly Commercial Search Report, 2021

Searches to buy and lease property on realcommercial.com.au are showing signs of recovery.

While still subdued relative to pre-lockdown levels, the volume of buy searches continued to rise last week, up 1.1% nationally.

Compared to 12 months ago, confidence in the sector’s ability to recover from the pandemic has grown, with buyer searches sitting 23.5% higher.

Comparing year-on-year, South Australia (42%) has seen the strongest growth in buyer searches, followed by Victoria (32.3%) and Queensland (29.5%).

The Australian Capital Territory (-0.8%) was the only location to record a decline in buyer searches over the past 12 months, primarily due to the strength of Canberra’s market at the same time last year.

Lease searches were also up in most states last week, supporting a national rise of 3%. However, compared to 12 months ago, lease searches down 6.5%.

Searches to lease commercial property were lower in most states and territories comparing year-on-year, the exceptions being South Australia (9.3%) and Victoria (2.3%).

Over the past 12 months, New South Wales (-23.1%) and the Australian Capital Territory (-14.6%) have seen the largest drop in lease searches. There are signs of recovery, however, with both locations recording the strongest growth in lease searches last week.

Despite ongoing restrictions, businesses appear more optimistic on timelines for reopening as the vaccine rollout continues. This should support further growth in the demand to buy and lease commercial property over the coming months.