These markets offer a mix of weather , lifestyle , affordability which have not gone unnoticed by the Australian population with the continued investment into infrastructure in this region growing its attractiveness . While these markets traditionally have been plagued by older style stock , new developments have attracted a growing pool of potential occupiers resulting in A grade vacancies falling , and demand to invest growing .
Over this same period , we have also seen new business starts in Queensland grow ahead of any other state , suggesting new ventures borne out of COVID-19 employment changes have occurred . We ’ re seeing these small businesses now outgrow their home start-up and as a result we ’ ve seen an increase in enquiry for office stock in the sub-250sqm size range . The uptick in requirement for new commercial spaces benefits the local markets due to the variety of businesses needing space . CBD locations in Sydney and Melbourne are heavily weighted towards finance , legal , and professional users . This puts pressure on occupancy levels when economic uncertainty rises , which impacts employment . However , the new mix in tenant types in these Queensland locations spreads risk if sectors of the employment market shift in the future .
While Queensland has the greatest example of this shift to the coast , we have also seen these movements in New South Wales as population movements to regional centres increase . Wollongong , south of Sydney has also enjoyed growth in demand during 2021 of over 6,000sqm , while Newcastle to the north has also seen improvement in demand of 11,446sqm over the same time period .
While these coastal markets enjoy their new , vibrant workforce it ’ s unclear if this is a passing fad or a long term shift in employment . While the concept of remote working has been accepted during the pandemic , how workforces engage their staff in the years ahead could result in a greater push to suburban , regional and coastal locations or cement our CBDs as economic business hubs . Regardless , the change in population to these locations will continue to see these markets thrive in the short to medium term .
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