Sydney and Melbourne CBDs are ghost towns

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New data from Roy Morgan Research reveals that people movements across our two biggest CBDs are way down on pre-COVID levels, with Melbourne not surprisingly faring worst:

Roy Morgan has partnered with leading technology innovator UberMedia to aggregate data from tens of thousands of mobile devices to assess the movements of Australians as we deal with the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The interactive dashboards below track the movement data from a number of key locations around Melbourne and Sydney during 2020.

The number of devices seen in the Sydney CBD during the first week of July averaged only 53% of the levels seen earlier in the year during January and February. In recent days, several new cases of COVID-19 have been discovered around Sydney and the prospect of a return to lockdown appears to be rising.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.