PERTH’S CBD office market is still buoyant and has a bright future despite the failure to sell two of the city’s foremost buildings, according to Colliers Jardine WA chief executive Ian Campbell.
Allendale Square and Central Park had failed to sell because of poor timing – not because of lack of interest, Mr Campbell said.
He said the office market still had a lot working in its favour, including increasing rents, decreasing vacancies and a positive State economic outlook.
Mr Campbell made the comments after media reports of a downturn in the office market because of a lack of buyer interest.
Mr Campbell said it was factors beyond the basic market fundamentals that had a negative impact on the Central Park and Allendale Square sales. He said the strong-performing office markets in Sydney and Melbourne were taking some attention away from Perth.
This was exacerbated by the fact that most listed property trusts were not generally buying at the moment as the yields that quality assets such as Central Park offered were below the yields the trusts were currently paying.
Colliers Jardine research manager David Cresp said the vendors of Central Park and Allendale Square had found there were few potential purchasers for either building due to a myriad of factors.
Mr Cresp said said away from the top end of the CBD sales market there was still solid support for office investments such as the May Holman Centre and 553 Hay Street that sold recently.
