Australia's Immigration Curbs Likely to Have Modest Impact on REITs

0518 GMT - The Australian government's recent changes to immigration policy, aimed at curbing net overseas migration, are likely to have a modest impact on the country's real estate investment trusts, Moody's Ratings says in a commentary. The announced measures will slow the pace of population growth and modestly reduce the incremental commercial real estate required to support that growth over the next two years, it says. However, development supply across most real-estate sectors remains constrained. Higher construction costs and land prices, labor cost pressures, and higher financing costs are weighing on property supply, it says. New supply will likely remain 20%-50% below historical levels across the office, retail and industrial property sectors through to 2030, it adds.