Despite being at the epicentre of Australia’s Covid-19 outbreak, Melbourne remains a sought-after destination for international buyers.
According to data from REA Group, foreign investors have kept a watchful eye on Melbourne’s sliding apartment market in recent months with cashed-up buyers likely searching for bargains across the city’s top-end.
The country’s largest real estate portal found that in the three months to end of June, a series of newly-launched and under construction projects across central Melbourne topped its search results.
Opportunistic buyers are also aware that the decline in migration is also likely to leave excess supply and have a detrimental effect on inner city apartment sales and rental markets.
REA noted that international searches for property across its platform jumped 22 per cent year-on-year, noting that its international audience has been quick to adapt to life in lockdown by engaging with new digital content and virtual walkthroughs to shortlist properties.
Despite recent consternation over high-density residential living, high-rise towers such as Beulah’s 48-storey Paragon at 318 Queen Street, Brady Group’s 68 and 52-storey towers at 380 Lonsdale Street and EcoWorld’s 26-storey development in South Yarra were amongst the most-viewed developments online.
Construction has remained undeterred across Melbourne, with close to 18,000 apartments currently under construction within five kilometres of the CBD, according to global real estate group JLL.
Source: The Urban Developer