We believe Australia currently leads APAC in terms of Amenitisation, with an increasing number of Australian Premium and A Grade office buildings including additional facilities which may include events spaces, suites of meeting rooms, wellness facilities and curated food and beverage offerings in addition to having flexible workspace. We anticipate this trend will continue to be adopted by building owners throughout Australia and across Asia.
Australia is highly regarded in Asia as being a more mature market when it comes to landlord’s offering such amenity in their buildings. We saw this first with end-of-trip facilities and basic third-spaces in building lobbies however, we are now seeing an evolution to incorporate flexible space. A prime example of the next generation of this kind of offering in Sydney is AMP Capital’s Quay Quarter Tower development. Quay Quarter Tower will have significant retail, food and beverage offerings along with an extensive flexible workspace that is likely to include meeting room and conference facilities available for tenants within AMP Capital’s national portfolio to utilise; all of which is being designed to ensure a seamless and curated offering for customers.
Colliers 2019 Flexible Space report also states in the short-term, mergers and acquisitions will be driven by smaller local and regional players coming together to create greater coverage, and through operators from the US and EMEA entering the market via local partners. We expect a trend of consolidation to continue by way of mergers and acquisitions, like WeWork through the acquisition of naked Hub and Gravity in 2018. We are still seeing demand from Asian-based operators looking to move into the Australian market and overall we are expecting to see continued growth throughout 2019 and 2020.We’re also seeing growth from Australian based operators such as Victory Offices who recently listed on the ASX in support of their broader expansion aspirations throughout Australian and Asia.
It's not just Sydney and Melbourne experiencing growth in the flexible space sector though. Brisbane has reached its lowest vacancy in five years, with flexible operators directly contributing to the take up in space. The Brisbane office market remains an attractive location for flexible workspace operators given the large number of small businesses operating in Queensland, in particular we’ve seen larger scale operators like IWG looking to expand their footprint in Brisbane.
We are also aware of reports of further new flexible workspace operators that are in the process of negotiating new locations across both the Brisbane CBD and the fringe markets which will further contribute to the absorption of existing and newly developed stock.
Download the 2019 APAC Flexible Space Report to learn more about what’s to come in the flexible space sector across APSC, like premium design and landlord partnerships will also remain key trends for the flexible workspace market in the Asia-Pacific region over the next 2 years.
If you’re interested in learning more about the findings of this report, flexible workspace (which includes coworking, serviced offices, third spaces etc,) and how it could be suitable for your business feel free to get in touch with one of our Tenant Advisors.
Rowan Humphreys, Tenant Advisor, Sydney
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +61 400 495 549
Justin Lam, Tenant Advisor, Melbourne
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +61 402 334 001
Nick Davies, Tenant Advisor, Brisbane
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +61 404 834 247