Rents in Australia's urban centres have crashed as international students are barred from the country due to the closure of borders caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, reports WHATSNEW2DAY (12 November 2020). Only 80 foreigners came to Australia to study in September - a 99.8 per cent plunge of the 45,220 international students who arrived in the same month in 2019, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed. Georg Chmiel, the executive chairman of China's real estate portal JuwaiIQI, said the border closure had turned off potential Chinese real estate investors in Sydney and Melbourne but expects the situation to improve once a coronavirus vaccine is developed and borders reopen. "Student numbers will go up again, your rents will go up again and your investment will be recovered," Chmiel said.