Is City Living Back In High Demand?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a documented shrinking interest in living in cities, with many looking to the country as a new, viable way of living.

The global pandemic-induced tree change trend is seemingly losing momentum according to Knight Frank’s Global Buyer Survey.

Here, the survey of 900 clients across a total of 49 markets looked at the impact of COVID-19 on residential buyers’ attitudes to purchasing homes.

Globally, 19% of respondents have moved since the start of the pandemic – a figure that rises to 25% in Australasia.

Respondents cited a need for more outdoor (22%) and indoor (19%) space as the driving factors behind the moves.

Further, 20% of respondents who hadn’t moved were considering moving in 2021 as the pandemic continues to evolve.

Out of those respondents, 38% were looking at city locations – a strong indication that metro regions may be coming back into favour while 33% prefered more suburban locales.

Detached houses, waterfront residences or villas are still in strong demand, making up 46% of respondents. Elsewhere, country estates were also in demand, with 34% looking at that property type.

Surprisingly demand for apartments has shot up by 19% to 31% compared to 2020, with Knight Frank suggesting those changes reflect increased demand for a pied-a-terre in city centres.

Hot on the heels of the launch of View Media Group last year, Australia’s newest proptech digital media company has gone live with its consumer-facing real estate site, view.com.au.

The new site offers a ‘freemium’ model allowing vendors to list their properties for free while having the option of further upgrades for agents looking to enhance their listings.

VGM executive chairman Anthony Catalano said the model was a ‘game changer’ in the digital real estate space.

“While VMG is much more than a portal play, it’s critical that we have a consumer-facing brand that will act as the front door to attract consumers and in turn allow us to offer products and services in a range of verticals across the property ecosystem,” Mr Catalano said. “Our plan is to create a digital real estate superstore under the new View brand that will play in the $300 billion adjacency categories rather than solely focus on the $1

billion of digital property advertising.”

“We’ve listened to the industry and the time is right for an offer to come to market with an alternative model that addresses the real estate industry’s concern at the continually

escalating price of advertising.”

The View portal is available through app stores and will include properties across the country, not just those on the market right now.

“That means view.com.au will showcase more than 11 million properties in Australia compared to some of the portals which feature around 140,000 properties for sale,” Mr Catalano said. “From Day 1 we will provide consumers with a complete view of the market.’’

View has worked with mapping partner Nearmap to create the ability to have a comprehensive overview of all properties.

“We’ve had a look globally at best practice search for property and we’ve consumer tested a range of options and without doubt the preferred experience is map-based search,” View CEO Toby Blazs said. “So unlike others in the market who default consumers to a list view, we’ll default our search results via a map.”

Mr Catalano said the innovative site was designed to be a true disruptor in the proptech sector.

“VMG continues to grow and tick off the key parts of its strategic plan,” he said. “We are well on the way to forming a global-first conglomerate of proptech assets including portals, ad tech, lead generation, lead management solutions, media planning and buying, AI services, data and connections all under the one roof.”

Is City Living Back In High Demand?

A survey from Knight Frank indicates urban interest is returning.

A new digital real estate site promises a full view of the housing sector, even those places not on the market