Commercial property confidence at a three-year high

Commercial property confidence at a three-year high as regions battle for the top spot

December 18, 2019

Commercial property investors are the most confident they’ve been in three years, as fast-growing regional centres continue to drive positivity in the market.

Colliers International’s latest quarterly Commercial Property Investor Confidence Survey, released today, found a net positive 27 per cent of respondents expect investment conditions to get better over the next 12 months.

This is the highest proportion of optimists minus pessimists since the December 2016 quarter.

Chris Dibble, Research and Communications Director at Colliers International, says investors remain particularly confident about high-growth regions.

“Queenstown and Tauranga/Mount Maunganui continue to battle for the top spot, coming in at first equal this survey at a net positive 57 per cent.

“Hamilton got a further vote of confidence, coming in at third for the second consecutive quarter, at a net positive 53 per cent.” Dibble says 12 out of the 13 regions recorded a net positive score. Christchurch was the exception, with a net negative 3 per cent.

“However, there is solid optimism in Christchurch’s industrial sector, while a large number of respondents expect conditions to remain stable in the city’s office and retail sectors, rather than show a significant uplift.” Wellington is in fourth place at 52 per cent, squeezing out Auckland into fifth place at 51 per cent.

In Auckland, respondents’ confidence was highest in the industrial sector (65 per cent), followed by the office sector (54 per cent).

That result was all but flipped in Wellington, where confidence was highest in the office sector (65 per cent), followed closely by the industrial sector (53 per cent).

Survey respondents were also asked what could have the biggest positive and negative impacts on the property market in 2020.

The most cited positive response was sustained low interest rates, followed by a change in government. The most common negative response was tightening in bank lending, followed by overseas political tensions.

There were 1,372 responses utilised to construct the survey results.

ENDS

Commercial_Property_Investor_Confidence_Survey__Q4_2019.pdf

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