Claremont tops for amenity

Theoretically speaking, office workers in Subiaco have to wait about seven times as long as their Claremont counterparts for a morning coffee, an analysis of amenity levels across 50 suburban office markets has revealed.

The analysis was undertaken as part of Y Research’s annual suburban office market report, with the number of food and beverage options available measured against the number of office workers in each area.

Y Research’s ‘Cappuccino Co-efficient’ showed suburbs with major shopping centres were the standouts in terms of amenity, with Claremont, Morley and Innaloo the top-rated areas.

In Claremont, there are 14.2 office workers for each food and beverage outlet, a sharp contrast to Herdsman, the lowest-ranked suburban market, which has 1,363 workers for each cafe or restaurant.

In Subiaco, there are 99 office workers for each outlet, a statistic that surprised report author, Y Research principal Damian Stone.

“Basically in all of the new suburban office development hotspots – Stirling along Cedric Street, Perth Airport, and West Leederville – other services haven’t kept pace with office development,” Mr Stone told Business News.

“Subiaco is known for its amenity, but even there it hasn’t kept pace.

“Some of the new developments will add to the amenity there, that’s one of the selling points of developments like Subi XO and Station Street.

“But what surprised me is that Belmont is better in terms of amenity than Subiaco. You wouldn’t think that in a million years.”

Mr Stone said the level of amenity available in suburban office markets was becoming more crucial for landlords, with many tenants coming to the end of their leases and eyeing off a high level of office vacancies in the Perth CBD.

The tenant exodus was particularly evident in West Perth, where there were 308 office workers for each coffee shop, Mr Stone said.

“West Perth landlords are losing people to the city,” he said.

“Of the top 20 West Perth office tenants in 2013, only six are left.

“One of the reasons is the quality and size of space available in the city and end-of-trip facilities, but also it’s the amenity, public transport, things like that.

“West Perth, in peak times, is a hard place to get a parking spot, and if you work north of Hay Street, there aren’t a whole heap of places for you to go.”