Office vacancies rise, tipped to stabilise

Perth's office vacancy rate is nudging 20 per cent but demand is turning to the positive side, according to the Property Council of Australia.

The Property Council today said the Perth CBD office vacancy rate was 19.2 per cent, up from 16.5 per cent in August last year.

Over the six months to the end of January, 113,463 square metres of new office space was added to the market.

Property Council of Australia WA Division executive director Joe Lenzo said the market was continuing to adjust post resources boom.

"However, the latest results also show that demand for new office space in Perth is recovering," he said.

"After three consecutive years of negative demand, the Perth CBD recorded positive net absorption of 42,387sqm in the six months to January 2016."

Mr Lenzo said he expected the market to stabilise in the year ahead, with only 31,171sqm of new office space to impact the market in 2016.