Posted on Nov 29, 2014
The team at Expedio would like to take this opportunity to wish all our clients, agents and suppliers an enjoyable and safe festive season. We will be variously on the water, at the beach, and in the bush, recharging our energy for the year ahead. We hope you get a chance to do the same.
It has been one of the best years in the marketplace in recent times, with good solid demand from both tenants and owner-occupiers. And finally some meaningful growth in rentals is starting to occur.
Patterns have changed over the past 12 months. In contrast to previous years – last Christmas, the break was hardly a break. The enquiries just kept coming. And then the usual slowdown through the election campaign failed to occur. That these artificial slowdowns failed to occur was positive in the sense that market sentiment was not distracted in any way.
Looking forward, we express our gratitude for the slowdown in the mining industry in Australia. In a roundabout way, we believe this has been a major contributor to the robustness of our market. The slowdown in Australia contributed to reversing the outflow of skilled workers to Australia, and it also made a number of Australian businesses pay more attention to the possibilities on this side of the Tasman.
We are predicting that with interest rates likely to remain at current levels, or thereabouts, for some time, with new build costs significantly higher than existing building prices, and with tight supply, that we are likely to see more of the same in the first half of 2015.
Merry Christmas (although not too merry if you are driving!) and a Prosperous New Year to all.