Commercial property market picks up
While the residential property market remains relatively quiet the commercial sector has reported signs of a recovery.
Trade in the nation’s commercial real estate market recovered in the second quarter of 2011 with over $1.2 billion worth of significant sales, according to CB Richard Ellis.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The figure represented close to double the $638 million in sales that occurred in the first quarter with over a month still remaining in the current quarter.
CBRE executive director of global research and consulting, Kevin Stanley said the activity confirmed that Australia’s commercial real estate markets were recovering after a very slow start to 2011.
“The first quarter of any year is typically a light one, given January is a holiday month across the country,” Mr Stanley said.
“It means the quarter is effectively two months of trading, rather than three. So it’s not uncommon to see lower-than-average turnover in a first quarter, however not as low as what transpired this year.”
CBRE regional director for institutional investment properties Rob Sewell said the office market was particularly popular with commercial investors.
“With recent weakness in retail sales and the generally limited availability of prime retail stock, we’re also seeing some of the prime players in this sector switch their focus to office property.”
