Property Council reports record low office occupancy rates.

 

Just when office workers were starting to trickle back into the business hearts of Australia’s two largest cities, extended lockdowns have turned their CBDs into ghost towns.

 

According to Property Council of Australia figures, office occupancy in Sydney’s CBD in August slumped to just four per cent, while Melbourne’s plunged to a record low of seven per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

 

“All the gains made earlier this year to reactivate the city have now been lost as workers have again been forced to desert the CBD in droves due to lockdown, and the city again resembles a ghost town,” PCA’s Victorian executive director Danni Hunter told Nine Media.

 

PCA chief executive Ken Morrison said Brisbane and Adelaide, which recently emerged from lockdowns, had recovered strongly with occupancy in their CBDs at 60 and 65 per cent respectively.

 

“We know that lockdowns are having a big impact on our CBDs, but it is encouraging to see that once lockdowns are lifted workers are returning at faster rates than we recorded in 2020,” he said.

 

The PCA surveys major landlords and office managers to determine how full or not city buildings are. Most are not expecting to see more workers in their buildings in the next three months, Morrison said.