The Property Council of Australia's latest Office Market Report has revealed an increase in the vacancy levels of Brisbane CBD, despite recording a historically strong level of office demand.
Released today, the Office Market Report recorded the CBD vacancy rate increasing from 11.9 percent in July 2019 to 12.7 percent in January 2020.
Chris Mountford, Queensland Executive Director of the Property Council, said, "The headline vacancy figure has been caused by the addition of the 300 George Street office tower to the market, but the underlying strong demand is an extremely positive sign for the city's economy."
"High tenant demand has seen 23,581sqm absorbed over the past six months - a great indicator of healthy activity in the office sector," Mr Mountford said.
"This is well over double the historical average of Brisbane CBD's office demand and has been concentrated in the Premium and A Grade market segments.
"With an additional 55,000sqm of space due to come online over the next two years, the market will be hoping for a continuation of this strong tenant demand for quality Brisbane CBD properties."
The Brisbane Fringe market's vacancy decreased marginally over the last six months of 2019, falling from 13.8 per cent to 13.7 per cent.
Withdrawals of space in Brisbane's fringe for redevelopment has been the primary cause of this vacancy reduction, with tenant demand negative in all grades except for A Grade stock.
"Almost 80,000sqm of new office space is expected to come online in the Brisbane Fringe over the next few years," Mr Mountford said.
"We're seeing a definite 'flight to quality' both in the Brisbane CBD and Brisbane Fringe markets, this will open up great redevelopment and repositioning opportunities in 2020 for older assets."
