Commercial Market Confidence Slowly Returns
Commercial property sentiment has improved for a consecutive quarter.
By Terry Christodoulou
Fri, Feb 19, 2021 12:23am
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While Australia has fared better than most countries in its response to COVID-19, the commercial market has taken a hit.
The recovery from the pandemic amplified recession is now, slowly, starting to find the commercial property market sentiment according to NAB’s quarterly commercial sentiment survey which – through its Commercial Property Index – saw expectations for capital values and rents lift to a still weak -35 pts, well below the overage of 0 pts.
Overall sentiment towards the commercial property market lifted in all states in Q4, although still negative, ranging from -64 pts in VIC to -11 pts in QLD and WA. Market conditions are expected to remain negative in all states in the next 12 months except in WA (+8 pts), with VIC (-51 pts) the least confident.
Longer-term confidence however looks more positive in most states, except VIC (-16 pts) and NSW (-5 pts), with WA (+34 pts) highest.
Sentiment is not consistent across all commercial sectors, CBD hotels registered a score of -64 pts, Retail -58pts and Office -41pts, the industrial sentiment rose sharply (-25 pts) pointing to demand for online retail and requirements for warehousing and logistic spaces as the cause.
Expectations for a stronger near-term recovery in economic activity has boosted overall confidence levels in commercial property markets with an expectation to measure +2 pts in two-years.
On the development front, an above average 54% of property developers plan to start new works in the short-term (next 6 months), up from 39% in Q3.
Further, the rental outlook across commercial markets is less decisive, with Retail (-3.9% & -1.8%) and Office (-2.7% & -1.4%), with the outlook weakest in the Eastern seaboard states. The outlook for Industrial rents (1.4% & 2.1%) has however improved sharply.
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The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
By Liz Lucking
Mon, Jul 13, 2026 2 min
2 min
Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
