Weekly Market Update – Will the Mass Migration Continue?
Australia’s property market is still moving, and even with Sydney having been in lockdown now for several weeks, their market moved up 0.4% last week. Melbourne slowed a little, however, Brisbane remains strong. What is very evident is that the number of properties coming to the market is slowing, which makes perfect sense. If the lockdowns are expected to continue for several weeks to come why would a property owner attempt to list and sell? And, of course, when there is a clear lacking of homes for sale with ever strong buyer demand you would expect prices to continue to rise.
Property prices in Australia have already risen greatly in 2021, with the 12-month growth rate to July sitting at 16.1%. As expected, buyer demand for property in Queensland increased this week after having slowed due to the previous week of lockdown. And the market continues to struggle to keep up with demand. As soon as we have a property on our books it sells. Often, we have strong offers coming in before a property even hits the market. Because buyers don’t want to miss out when the right property becomes available, they have prepared themselves so they can make confident offers when that time comes.
In South-East Queensland we are in a good position for a strong market for a few years to come. The only implications to our growing market would be implications from the COVID pandemic and future lockdowns. The longer-term lag effects of lockdowns in our southern states, which is in large part fuelling our current growth, and the subsequent economic impacts of this may slow the interstate buyer demand.
When restrictions ease, we will no doubt see more migration and growth to Queensland for at least the next 12 months. Sydneysiders continue to seek properties in regional areas and interstate with ABS reporting that in the first quarter of 2021 a total of 11,800 people left our capital cities in favour of regional areas. Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 40,000 people has been said to have left Sydney. Brisbane alone has gained a said total of 16,300 people since the start of the pandemic. This is sure to rise as many more people make the decision to call our Sunshine State, home. The greatest challenge for regional communities will be keeping up with the unprecedented rapid rate of growth.
