Buying Offices Requires You To Understand The Local Markets

Suburnban Offices are in DemandNOT THAT long ago, the Office market as a whole was progressing well … right around Australia.

However, following the GFC, each local suburban market has been recovering at a different pace.

Perth rebounded rather dramatically, once the mining sector started to pick up again. And yet it has suddenly plateaued, while mining currently takes a breather. [Read more…]

Industrial Property Is Clearly Holding Its Own

Industrial Rentals set to rise, and Selling Yields will begin to firm.Vacancy rates for Industrial property have fallen dramatically over the past year — declining by 39% on average, across the country.

This is mainly the result of strong demand for warehousing, following the high Australian dollar.

Plus, there has only been a modest amount of new construction. And that means you should see rentals improve and selling yields start to firm. [Read more…]

Is The Mining Boom Masking a Major Problem for Commercial Property in Queensland and WA?

Queensland & WA will have the greatest amount of Distressed PropertyTHIS RATHER pressing issue appears to be receiving little or no coverage at all.

But if you listen to the insolvency firms, Western Australia is about to become the “hot spot” for distressed property.

And as you can see from the chart, Queensland well and truly holds the the crown at the moment. [Read more…]

National Office Market Shows Steady Improvement

LAST WEEK, the Property Council of Australia released its Office Space survey, for the 6 months to January 2012. And this will have some interesting implications for the Commercial property market.

National Vacancy Rates have fallen over the past 6 monthsAcross the 26 markets depicted in this chart … demand was up 20% up and supply 30% down, on the 20-year average for the six-monthly period.

As you can see, total vacancies fell from 9.0% to 7.9% — the lowest since January 2009. And perhaps a quick summary of the CBD Office markets would be worthwhile. [Read more…]

Commercial Property: What Makes for a Balanced Office Market?

EVERY capital city has both a CBD and suburban Office market. And as you can appreciate, keeping tabs on all the various suburban markets is almost an impossible task for most investors.

But generally speaking, the health (or otherwise) of the CBD Office markets within each capital city will provide you with a fairly good gauge of the overall Office scene around Australia.

Accordingly, this graph will provide you with a clear picture of what has occurred over the past 4 years.

As a rule of thumb, Office markets are said to the “in balance”, when their Vacancy Rate lies between 5% and 7%. [Read more…]

Lack of Construction Underpins
Demand for Office Space

Available Full CBD Office Floors are quickly vanishingThe Commercial property market is driven mainly by supply and demand — especially Offices.

And therefore, with …

  • falling vacancies,
  • positive net absorption and
  • few new projects in the pipeline …

… this means a looming shortage of Office space around Australia — with rentals poised to rise sharply. [Read more…]

Retailing Isn’t Totally Dead …
It Has Simply Changed

The Winery by Gazebo an Crown Street, Surry HillsIn last week’s article, you read a general overview of the Retail sector … and some of the issues currently confronting traders.

Let’s now take a quick look at three of the capital cities. [Read more…]

Commercial Property Looking Forward

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Is there a Future for Offices?

The last couple of articles have talked about all the misplaced doom and the gloom.

Plus, you also covered the various reasons why Australia overall is well placed to flourish (and not just survive) the current global distress.

A recent report on the Australian Office scene (by Morgan Stanley property research) would only tend to confirm that view. Their only concern would be the Sydney market, due to its heavy exposure to the financial sector. [Read more…]

“Where You Live Should NOT
Dictate Where You Actually Invest!”

Always consider the emerging trendsWherever you live, you tend to believe (and will happily tell people) that it is undoubtedly the best place to live.

Really, it’s just human nature.

But when it comes to investing your hard-earned dollars into Commercial property … your decisions should be governed by something more than a warm and fuzzy feeling.

For the past four or five years, Victoria has led the nation in economic growth; and it is one of the few enjoying a net growth in migration from other states.

Employment Growth shows some interesting trendsFurthermore, the latest ABS figures now confirm Victoria’s continued growth and job creation — leading all-comers over the past 12 months.

And you’ll also notice most of the various service sectors are currently outstripping the mining sector, as far as employment numbers are concerned. [Read more…]

Making Sense of
The Mining Boom

Size-wise, as a proportion of Australia’s economy … Manufacturing and Mining contribute more or less the same output.

 Services rival Mining on Investment However, Mining’s investment spend is currently more than three times that being spent by the Manufacturing sector.

All the media attention has mainly been focused upon this disparity. But that doesn’t really tell you the complete story — as you can see from the first of these graphs. [Read more…]

CBD Offices Can Expect Solid Growth

What a difference a year can make to Office markets around Australia.

Twelve months ago, the rest of the world was anticipating double-dip recession.

And white-collar employment was looking rather fragile here in Australia — particularly for Sydney, with its high exposure to the finance industry.

Even so, Melbourne’s office leasing market remained strong throughout all of last year.
[Read more…]