The Brains Trust - 2023, page-1486

Part2

I know a little about commercial real estate. Just a little bit though, enough to make me observant.

Think about this., following and during the covid lockdowns, commercial real estate is soft. An agent I know, tells me things are OK, but it's a nervous market.

A few months age i had to visit someone at Liverpool hospital (Sydney). So I parked for free in the Westfield car park and walking through Westfield I notice a few empty shops. Another west field I visited  a couple of year back, Warilla, on the NSW South Coast looked tired and in need of a re-furb. It also had a couple of Op shops on the upper level. Op-shops in a Westfield! That must be scraping the bottom.

If you look at the latest report from CTT, you will see on-line sales are growing. Think about it, the lockdowns have increased on-line sales at the expense of bricks and morter. Add also the loss of tourism to regional areas, and I have seen for myself on the South coast of NSW the loss of a few of my Favourite cafes, that the lockdowns caused disruption to the tourism industry and retail outlets.  

Office real estate seems to be faring worse. Have a look at many ASX reports from various companies and you will see the cost cutting that has taken place across the board since the lockdowns. I personally know 2 people now working full time at home. If a company was thinking of expanding it's office space, it's not now. If needed, an extra desk in the corner seems to be the way.

Ditto the warehousing. Not so much here in Oz, but due to Donald Trumps Chinese bans, warehousing has shifted from the East coast of the US to Mexico. Logistics disruption has caused havoc with warehousing, too much in the wrong place, not enough in the new places.

For a real eye opener this is an IMPORTANT read......




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