A grim picture of the Australian economy has been painted with Roy Morgan Research's business confidence and consumer confidence indices, released a few days ago.
Business confidence is down 8.6 per cent to 102.6 points and consumer confidence has dropped 5.8 per cent to 106.7 points. Both of these are new lows, with business confidence being lower in August in 2011 and consumer confidence last being at this level in July 2014.
"Continued low commodity prices and their negative outlook, poor GDP growth, and the plummeting Australian dollar are all contributing to uncertainty in the market and impacting business confidence," according to Roy Morgan Research's industry communications director Norman Morris.
He also cited the fluctuations in the global financial markets, with the upheaval in the Chinese stock market last month being singled out.
In addition to this, he thinks it is worth thinking about the large loss of confidence of small businesses in August, even though there have been recent government tax incentives. It is worrying to see that their confidence is a significant amount below that of larger businesses.
As for consumer confidence, co-head of Australian economics Felicity Emmett commented that the weakening Australian economy has filtered through to households and their attitudes.
"Interestingly, views on purchasing a household item have reached the lowest level since May last year, when confidence plunged in response to the 2014-15 Commonwealth Budget. Combined with the drop in households' view of their own finances as well as slower house price growth, this suggests that the outlook for retail is likely to remain challenging," said Ms Emmett.
Even though the nation is experiencing a downturn, all is not lost for retail leasing in the Gold Coast because of the Gold Coast's special characteristics.
The Gold Coast is known as a tourist hotspot for both people from Australia and overseas. Areas like Surfers Paradise are famous for their exuberant nightlife and general great weather. This provides a strong platform for growth in the commercial sector.
In fact, market sentiment for Queensland in general is looking good.
The NAB Commercial Property Index shows a growing market sentiment for the next quarter, year and two years.
Tourism in general in Australia has been stable in recent times with international visitor numbers reaching a new high of 6.6million visitors for the year up to June 2015 according to Tourism Research Australia.
The greater numbers also brought their wallets, spending $33.4billion. This is the most since the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
This bodes well for commercial property in the Gold Coast, especially with the Commonwealth Games Games being just around the corner in 2018.
Not only this, but new developments in the Gold Coast on the foreshore, including the Broadwater, are bound to bring in new commercial property investment opportunities. Luxury hotels, restaurants and casinos have been floated as potential ideas for the cultural hub.
Here at Ray White Surfers Paradise, we have a dedicated team to deal with commercial property, including buying, selling and leasing.
If you're feeling hesitant about having to deal with the day-to-day tasks and other duties associated with owning a commercial property, it could be worth asking us about commercial property management. A management team can take care of your property and tenants and leave you to reap the rewards of your investment.
After all, an investment in the Gold Coast is well worth thinking about.
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