The AFR View
Property’s part in Australia getting back to normal
The sector’s interests in rebooting a sizeable immigration program is also in the national interest of Australia’s recovery from COVID-19.
Property has been at the front line of Australia’s pandemic experience as offices and shops have been forced to close by lockouts in the nation’s two biggest cities, landlords have been pressured to give rent holidays, a surge in online shopping has led to a boom in warehouses and record low interest rates and government subsidies have pumped up the housing sector. It is not surprising that The Australian Financial Review Property Summit on Wednesday heard multiple calls for governments to hold their nerve and avoid knee-jerk border slammings and hard lockdowns amid the arrival of the omicron strain of COVID-19. Yet, by and large, the property sector’s interest in getting workers back to the office, opening up the international border to tourists and students, and rebooting a sizeable immigration program are also in the national interest. As CEO of leading commercial real estate investment and management firm JLL Stephen Conry said at the Summit, getting back to normal is about Australia making a full economic recovery from COVID-19, which will be held back until the pre-pandemic vibrancy is restored to the nation’s CBDs. As Dexus chief executive Darren Steinberg suggested, that won’t happen until CBD food courts find the workers to feed the workers in the office blocks.
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