Adelaide Economic Development Agency crunches data says CBD is alive and well

A leading economic researcher has dispelled rumours that the “city is dead”.

The number of people employed in the CBD has grown 19 per cent since 2019, dispelling the myth that the “city is dead” according to the Adelaide Economic Development Agency.

AEDA’s economic research and data analyst Jordon Tomopolous found employees working in the city on “peak days” of Tuesday to Thursday were almost back to pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Tomopolous said both NAB and Telstra, which moved into 60 King William, reported their respective businesses had the highest office attendance rate in the country.

“It shows people want to come in and work from the city, which is a really important sign for us,” Mr Tomopolous told an AEDA data4lunch event on Wednesday.

“It also reinforces why us as an agency are so focused on investment attraction and bringing big businesses into the city because we understand what it means for small businesses.”

The data4lunch series focused “fact and fiction” in terms of the city’s economic conditions and also featured Economyid’s John Kim.

“What’s more interesting is the city has more people here on work nights and weekends than in 2019,” Mr Tomopolous said.

“Yes, office workers aren’t quite there yet, but what’s really positive is people want to come in and have a good time.”

Mr Tomopolous said data also showed the number of businesses open in the city were 10 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels, increasing from 11,129 in 2019 to 12,338.

He acknowledged there was a decline in 2023 in small businesses of one to four employees, while the growth was in medium to large sized and non-employing businesses.

“There’s been a lot of new big firms coming into the city, taking office space and bringing a lot of workers,” he said. “Demand for premium office space is high and continues to be high.”

New businesses in the city included MyVenue, Canva, SalesForce and Tetra Tech.

Mr Tomopolous said Adelaide had led the nation in terms of office net absorption in January and July this year.