Office

Commercial property has started 2020 with a bang, as buyers and businesses circle key properties across the country.

The stiff demand for office assets around Australia has been put on display with Singapore-listed ARA Asset Management Limited teaming with QuadReal Property Group to pre-purchase an East Melbourne office block for about $330 million.

Tupperware is having another crack at selling its Ferntree Gully headquarters of 60 years.

Lawyers are circling Dexus’s new office tower in the heart of Melbourne’s central business district, with leading law firm Ashurst the latest to sign a deal to make the move to the developer’s premium project.

On balance, last year was a positive one for real estate investors. The risks and rewards became clearer as central banks responded to sluggish growth and improving capital values benefited from low interest rates. We also saw risks on the demand side rising as consumer and business confidence hit record lows. With this in mind, where next for the new year?

Landlords providing tenants with more flexible leasing options may be the remedy to softening demand for office space in towers in the Sydney and Melbourne central business districts.

More office skyscrapers are tipped to change hands this year after sales smashed through the $20bn barrier in 2019, according to a major report by real estate agency JLL.

An office and warehouse complex in the inner west owned by national retailer Best & Less could soon be turned into a large-scale apartment development.

It’s increasingly common to see office workers donning their activewear and taking off for a run over their lunch break. But at a proposed new office development in Sydney, they won’t even have to leave …