Sunshine Coast’s office market in boom mode since pandemic

In stark contrast to other regional areas, the Sunshine Coast’s office market has emerged as the hottest market in Australia, a new property report has revealed.

A new property report has revealed the Sunshine Coast’s office market is bucking national trends to emerge as the country’s hottest sector.

CBRE’s latest Sunshine Coast Market Review showed the region had remained one of the strongest real estate markets in the country with no signs of weakening.

The report said unlike other regional centres, the Coast had avoided the trend of falling office occupancy rates that had plagued metropolitan areas throughout the pandemic.

CBRE’s managing director Rem Rafter said the Coast had become the hottest office market in the state.

CBRE Sunshine Coast's managing director Rem Rafter said the region’s office market was booming.

Mr Rafter said office vacancy rates dropped from 21.9 per cent in 2019 to 13.2 per cent in July 2021, partly due to the region’s exposure to small businesses that had been nimbler in the Covid-19 era.

“The expansion of the medical precinct at Birtinya has partly driven the uptake of office space and also the Sunshine Coast has one of the highest levels of start-up businesses in the country,” the report read.

“The success of Foundation Place, the first commercial project to open in the new Maroochydore City Centre, has boosted confidence in the local market.

“The five-storey office building was fully leased within months of construction. Sunshine Coast Council’s Town Hall complex will be finished next year, boosting available new office stock.

“But, apart from the activity in the Maroochydore CBD, limited new stock is expected to enter the market from 2022 and beyond.”

Mr Rafter said there had been huge opportunities created for the region in the past 18 months.

“We have seen an increasing number of people moving to the region from interstate and other areas of Queensland, and there has been unprecedented government and private investment in infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast – a greater spend than in some capital cities,” he said.

The Coast’s population was officially estimated at 351,400 and tipped to reach 580,000 by 2041, growing faster than the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.