Market
Pulse
Download the latest Market Pulse, our comprehensive office market report with in-depth analyses of the Sydney CBD and North Shore markets.
Market
Dashboard
A collection of data, charts and insights providing a succinct snapshot of the Sydney office leasing market.
Sydney
CBD
12.8%
Vacancy Rate
as at Jan-25
41,604
Net Absorption
12 months to Jan-25
0.9%
Rental Growth
A Grade net effective, 12 months to Mar-25
32%-42%
Incentives
Indicative range, as at Mar-25
The arrows indicate the direction of Cadigal’s expected change over the next 12 months.
Vacancy
Rate
After dipping slightly in mid-2024, the vacancy rate resumed its upward trend over the second half of the year, increasing 1.2 percentage points to 12.8%. This is the market’s highest mark in almost 30 years.
Rents
The impact of incentives on face rents has further dampened the modest growth, resulting in
effective rents increasing 0.1%-3.9% (12 months to Mar-25), with Premium highest and B Grade lowest.
Tenant Demand
Net Absorption
Tenant demand rebounded in 2024 with above-average net absorption for the first time in nine years (41,604sqm in 2024).
But there is still some way to go before the -136,178sqm of net absorption, accumulated over 2020-2024, is recovered.
Supply Completions
2020-2029
Two developments have completed in 2025 thus far - 33 Alfred Street (31,247sqm) and 121 Castlereagh Street (11,503sqm).
Seven projects (204,894sqm total) were delivered over the last 12 months, after no supply was completed during 2023 and the first half of 2024.
Tenant
Enquiry
The volume of active tenant enquiry continues to grow, increasing 12.2% to 404,303sqm over Q1 2025.
This total is the CBD’s highest in over 10 years.
Tenant Enquiry
by Industry Sector
Financial Services is currently contributing more than half of total enquiry (56.2%), skewed by a very large requirement from Westpac.
The next largest sectors (a long way behind) are Information Media, Telecommunications & Related Services (7.4%) and Legal & Accounting Services (6.4%).
North
Shore
23.7%
Vacancy Rate
North Sydney, as at Jan-25
-8,101
Net Absorption
North Shore, 12 months to Jan-25
-0.4%
Rental Growth
North Sydney A Grade net effective, 12 months to Dec-24
34%-45%
Incentives
North Shore indicative range, as at Dec-24
The arrows indicate the direction of Cadigal’s expected change over the next 12 months.
Vacancy
Rate
The vacancy rate in North Sydney remained relatively static over 2024, hovering around the 24% mark.
In Crows Nest/St Leonards, the vacancy rate of 30.5% is the highest on record whilst Chatswood has the lowest vacancy of the three sub-markets.
Rents
A combination of modest face rental growth together with mildly rising incentives has resulted in mixed effective rental growth ranging from -1.7% to +5.7%, over 2024.
Tenant Demand
Net Absorption
The first half of 2024 saw positive net absorption across the North Shore (2,873sqm) for the first time in three and a half years. However, -10,974sqm was tallied over the second half of the year, resulting in a fifth consecutive year of negative net absorption for market.
Over 2024, North Sydney (+8,505sqm net absorption) outperformed Crows Nest/St Leonards (-16,399sqm) and Chatswood (-207sqm).
Supply Completions
2020-2029
No office developments have been delivered on the North Shore since 2 Blue Street (14,153sqm) and 88 Walker Street (13,602sqm) in North Sydney, and 558 Pacific Highway, St Leonards (16,738sqm) were completed in 2023. One project remains under construction – the Premium grade Victoria Cross Tower (55,318sqm) in North Sydney, due in Q3 2025.
Tenant
Enquiry
The volume of active tenant enquiry on the North Shore remained broadly unchanged over 2H 2024 easing to 168,451sqm, approximately the same as the average of the last 7.5 years.
Tenant Enquiry
by Industry Sector
Current enquiry broken down by industry reveals a diverse mix of tenants with four sectors each contributing 10% or more of the total – Information Media & Telecommunications (17.6%) followed by Financial Services (15.5%) then Insurance Services (12.9%) and Manufacturing (10.5%).
