Office occupancy spikes despite preference for working from home

Busy crowds of people in the Brisbane CBD as life begins to return to a new normal. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Brisbane’s office occupancy has had the biggest spike in the country despite the latest Property Council survey warning of a major swing in workers that now prefer to work from home.

The latest office occupancy survey by the Property Council of Australia found Brisbane had the biggest monthly surge in occupancy rates in September, jumping 13 percentage pts from 57 to 70 per cent – though Adelaide (76 per cent) and Perth (76 per cent) had the highest levels overall.

The three cities saw relatively strong occupancy levels despite the survey finding that the preference for greater flexibility – including working from home – had jumped from 64 to 83 per cent among workers.

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A Property Council survey found health concerns were not a major factor any more when it came to why people preferred flexible work arrangements.

Only 4 per cent said it was linked to health concerns – falling from 30 per cent saying that in July.

Melbourne and Sydney workers are among those continuing to dig their heels in, preferring to work from home, with their occupancy rates at 41 per cent and 52 per cent respectively, with Canberra not far off that at 54 per cent occupancy.

Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison said it was “especially encouraging to see office occupancy jump significantly in several major CBDs, but the results are a lot lower in Melbourne and Sydney which has more lockdown disruption through the pandemic”.

Brisbane’s low days see about 55 per cent office occupancy while Melbourne’s low days are around 25 per cent. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“Our survey shows people are returning to their offices strongly on peak days, with peak day occupancy reaching 84 per cent in Perth, 83 per cent in Adelaide, 79 per cent in Brisbane, Sydney at 65 per cent and 60 per cent in Canberra and Melbourne.”

Brisbane’s office occupancy rates vary from 79 per cent on peak days to 55 per cent on low days, compared to Melbourne where a peak day is at 60 per cent falling to as low as 25 per cent on low days.

“Melbourne’s peak occupancy day increased by 9 per cent from the previous month, which is a positive sign despite the overall occupancy rate remaining subdued,” Mr Morrison said.

He expected to see “continued momentum in the months ahead” for office occupancy increases given warmer weather and the Omicron wave subsiding.

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