August 2020: Melbourne's Stage 4 and the two-speed market
Melbourne went into the world's longest lockdown. Brisbane and Perth quietly hit fresh highs.
The divergence
Victoria's Stage 4 restrictions began 2 August 2020. Melbourne dwelling values fell 1.2% for the month while Brisbane was flat and Perth rose 0.6%. The national headline obscured one of the cleanest two-speed markets in twenty years.
Capital rotation
Sky News kept asking 'is Melbourne broken?' My answer was that Melbourne wasn't broken, it was on sale. But the higher-conviction trade was the inter-state rotation: investors who pivoted FY21 acquisitions to SE Queensland captured the start of the 30%+ Brisbane move that ran through to early 2022.
Dax Stanley
Founder & Principal Strategist, Hera Property. #1 international bestselling author of Real Estate Investing Using ChatGPT.