Melbourne's record low auctions
Auction market analysis via Tim Lawless of CoreLogic sees Melbourne's auction market at record low volumes, and next week it set to deliver more of the same:
Source: CoreLogic
Sydney appears to be strengthening all the time, by comparison.
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Gompertz curve?
New cases of COVID-19 were a little higher in Victoria today, but the 7-day average hit a fresh 11-week low, with the trend now down to the lowest level since June.
New South Wales reported 4 cases in hotel quarantine relating to returned travelers, and four from a couple of known clusters, with one positive test resulting from an unknown source.
There were zero cases across all of the other six state and territories.
Looking forward, the plan for Melbourne appears to be to keep millions of residents locked up at home indoors for months, until the virus is eradicated entirely.
But with daily videos emerging of over-zealous policing and public demonstrators appearing unlikely to comply with instructions, leading to an inevitable fracas, eradication seems to be a remote goal.
Indeed more and more scientific observers are questioning whether eradication is even an achievable goal, and moreover, whether there would be any discernible impact on deaths arising from months of Melbourne lockdown.
Countries across the world such as Spain, UK, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and many others appear to have followed a 'Gompertz curve' regardless of the restrictive measures taken, with the virus accounting for many deaths initially, but very few now, even in the face of another wave of cases.
It seems as though France could be be a critical country to watch as a case study in this regard.
Newly confirmed cases in France have steepled to record highs this week - there were 10,561 new cases yesterday alone - and yet the the 7-day average for deaths this time around has yet to take off alarmingly.
But do watch this space, because Europe is now rapidly approaching its colder winter months...
Will hospitalisations and deaths follow with a lag, especially as France didn't have such a big wave the first time around, compared to Italy and others?
It seems most of the population has built up some level of immunity from previous viruses, but as is the case many flu seasons, those with pre-existing conditions can be found to be very vulnerable.
