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One of Australia’s top demographers says there’s plenty of reasons for the real estate profession to be optimistic about property and the real estate market over the medium term.
Bernard Salt has said that the coming of COVID-19 “has presented a great opportunity for many Australians to rethink their lives: Are they in the right job? The right relationship? Are they in the right city? Are they in the right housing?”
“With the opportunity now to work from home, many people have been encouraged to come out of the fashionable inner city, hipster apartments and to look at three and four-bedroom, two-bathroom plus a ‘Zoom room’ home in the suburbs with a garden, or in fact, to move beyond the capital city to regional cities, within striking distance of the major capital city in each community,” he told delegates at the First National Real Estate convention in Canberra in mid-May.
That opportunity — and the subsequent decision-making — led to what he calls the “VESPA” phenomenon — virus escapees seeking provincial Australia.
“They’re scootering out of our capital cities in search of their very own ‘Bonnie Doon escape’ and retreat,” he commented.
Mr Salt said it’s a phenomenon that’s predominantly occurring across Victoria and New South Wales, “and to some extent Queensland”.
It’s not a short-term trend either, with the demographer expressing that such migration patterns “are very big trends that are certainly shaping the demand for property going forward”.
He noted that the fastest-growing age group in Australia will be people who are in their late 30s and early 40s over the next five years.
“These are the children of the Baby Boomers, the echo of the baby boom. They are coming out of their apartments and buying homes,” Mr Salt said, adding that it means this “mini boom” is being driven by demographics as well as by the coming of COVID-19.
“This is why I am so confident about the next five years. The property market is not just recovering from the coronavirus, it is being driven by the demographic surge of Millennials upgrading their demands for property.
“Assuming the geopolitical settings hold steady, then there is every reason for Australians to be optimistic and confident about the future.”
But they aren’t the only reasons for that optimism, with Mr Salt adding that Australia’s ability to navigate COVID-19 has attracted “entrepreneurs and businesses, immigrants with skills, and students and visitors who want to be part of Australia”.
“That’s going to drive a lot of energy into the Australian market around the middle of the decade,” Mr Salt said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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