Sydney, Melbourne hungry for office space: BIS Shrapnel
High demand for office space in Sydney and Melbourne is being quickly met, with the Brisbane market weakening and Perth and Canberra recording negative demand.
Underpinning the demand is the property and business services sector, which includes computer system design, engineering, technical services and architectural services.
BIS Shrapnel Senior Project Manager Maria Lee said that there has been a marked improvement in underlying demand since the depths of 2013 and that net absorption—which is already positive—will go higher.
“We shouldn’t use recent history as a benchmark of what’s to come over the next few years," Ms Lee said.
"As demand comes through, the company forecasts higher rents will follow. But it’s a two speed economy and there is considerable variation city by city."
According to BIS Shrapnel, office space in Sydney and Melbourne accounted for 860,000 square meters of demand.
