North Sydney Office Lease Market Finally on the Up!

With the official vacancy Rate for North Sydney CBD dropping to a pre-GFC rate, Commercial Property owners are now anxiously waiting for the Market to finally begin to see upward pressure on Face Rents as well as Strata Sale Prices.

The drop in the vacancy rate has come as a welcome relief to the North Sydney market which has struggled with high vacancy rates for years after a succession of market crises. Now finally it looks like the vacancy rate is heading in the right direction.

Whilst the current figures showed that the biggest uptake in space was for A Grade buildings and this has largely been responsible for the big drop in overall vacancy, Aspace Estate Agents have now seen increased uptake in the B-D Grade properties and the return to some competition between Tenants to secure a property.

Whilst we have not yet seen major jumps in Face Rents in the lower grade properties, we are certainly seeing a reduction in the number of properties available on the market and are seeing the early signs of properties being re-leased without large vacancy periods.

Value for money and good quality, well presented office space with fitout is what's at the top of most Commercial Tenant's lists when they are looking for an office for lease in North Sydney, and Landlord's offering office space of this type will find themselves a tenant relatively quickly.

We have seen however, good well presented properties languishing on the market for a long time, however quite often this is because the property has not been matched with the right type of Agent.

The Aspace Team has seen many cases of good properties sitting on the market for a long time because they have been listed with the wrong Agent. If you have a small sub 500sqm property, it’s often pointless listing it with a large Agency that specialises in 1,000sqm plus properties. Whilst you may feel that there is a certain prestige associated with the larger Agencies, if they are only attracting larger Tenants then its unlikely they will attract a tenant to your property if it is outside their niche area. Often, the smaller Agency (that you may assume has a smaller market share) has a much higher chance of securing a Tenant for your property as that's their area of expertise.

Even within the smaller less known Agencies, there is still a big difference between their market share.

"We have often taken on properties that have been marketed by other small or large Agencies for up to 2 years without success and have been able to work out what needs to be done so that the property is presented in a way that appeals to the broadest number of Tenants in that property’s size range and in a way that will ensure that a Tenant is secured in a relatively fast time frame."

This is an "inexact science" but it is definitely based on up to the minute market feedback and analysis. There are no short cuts and there is no easy way out, but finding the right Agent who really knows the exact state of the market that your property sits in is your best option for getting the most out of your investment.

If you would like to find out more about what's really happening in the North Sydney market today - what's leased and sold recently and what's currently available for lease and sale, please visit the Aspace Estate Agents website at www.aspace.net.au or contact us directly at 02 9954 6333.
Aspace Estate Agents
275 Alfred Street
North Sydney NSW 2060.
Email: info@aspace.net.au
Phone: 02 9954 6333
Fax: 02 8211 5145
Website: http://www.aspace.net.au