Low office vacancy rate

The Property Council’s market report released in August shows Docklands has the lowest office vacancy rate in inner-city Melbourne.

As of July, Docklands’ office vacancy rate was a mere 2.1 per cent, a significant improvement from the 3.3 per cent in January.

The Melbourne CBD’s office vacancy rate remains steady at 6.5 per cent.

Some 101,156sqm of offices have been occupied in Docklands in the 12 months to July, making up 78.8 per cent of the total net absorption in the Melbourne CBD and surrounding suburbs.

Docklands’ office leasing and sales activity is also the most prominent in inner-city Melbourne.

The leasing of 26,500sqm at 839 Collins St to ANZ was the largest area of office space leased in Melbourne this year.

In January, 7100sqm at 664 Collins St was leased to Exxon Mobil and 2800sqm at 737 Bourke St was leased to Symbion.

Pacific Hydro started occupying 2423sqm of office at 700 Collins St in February and National Heart Foundation took 2154sqm at 850 Collins St in June.

Docklands’ low office vacancy rate and recent large-scale commercial leasing deals demonstrate the area’s strong employment growth and economic strength.

Sally Capp, the Property Council’s Victorian executive director, said a consistent stock of A-Grade commercial office spaces remained a top priority for the Melbourne.

“We have research underway into the drivers of the commercial property market and the policies necessary to provide a steady supply of high-quality commercial office space into the future,” Ms Capp said.