One year on, Melbourne and Sydney CBDs remain ghost towns

Advertisement

It has been roughly a year since the COVID-19 pandemic officially began in Australia when the international border was closed and the nation was plunged into lockdown.

Yet, Australia’s two biggest CBDs remain ghost towns according to new data from Roy Morgan Research, which shows people movements in both cities is less than half pre-COVID levels.

The other capitals are faring better. But they too have are experiencing significantly lower people movements than before COVID.

People movements across Australia's CBDs

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:
Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe
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.