How flex working can help future proof office buildings

Housing, housing, housing. It was a conversation that dominated the Property Council of Australia’s annual Property Leaders’ Summit given the country’s current supply crisis. But a range of other topics were also put under the microscope, including the current interest rate trajectory, views on alternative property assets, if we’re on track to meet our ambitious energy transition targets, and whether early AI adopters will reap a competitive advantage. The Summit is the hottest property ticket in town, and it’s governed by the Chatham House Rule. So, we were excited by the opportunity to discuss - under the Chatham House Rule of course - key outtakes with the Property Council’s Executive Director of Capital Markets Antony Knep and the Capital Markets Division Council President Carmel Hourigan, who is also Charter Hall’s Office CEO. 

From humble beginnings, Salta Properties has grown to be one of Australia’s largest privately owned property companies.In this latest episode of Talking Property, we discuss the company’s evolution, its $3 billion build to rent strategy, the office outlook and what’s next for the industrial& logistics sector with Salta’s Managing Director Sam Tarascio. Sam also gives his views on the current housing supply crisis and what’s needed from government at both a Victorian and national level to stop the bottlenecks.

How can we future proof office buildings? Give workers a better guest experience so that they want to come into the office? And what tactics can landlords employ to foster the workplace experience and provide greater flexibility to enhance occupier engagement, property values, and truly earn the commute?To get under the hood, we’ve spoken to Jaelle Ang, CEO and founder of The Great Room by Industrious, and CBRE’s Executive Managing Director of Property Management, Pacific, Nat Slessor, on our latest Talking Property podcast.

Could land lease communities be one of the solutions for Australia’s housing affordability crisis?They’ve become an increasingly sought after option for retirees. Some 130,000 people are living in these estates and the $12 billion sector having been described as the fastest growing solution for downsizers in Australia.But what exactly is a land lease community, what are the pros and cons of buying into them, how much growth is likely in this sector and why is it rising on the radar of local and offshore institutions and developers?We explore this with Kate Melrose from the Ingenia Communities Group alongside CBRE’s Liam Greentree and Kat Hale in our latest Talking Property podcast.We also discuss CBRE’s inaugural residential valuers survey, which shines a light on the ever-pressing need for more affordable housing options in Australia.If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

While there’s broad agreement on some of the longer-term tailwinds for the Australian real estate market, conviction is still lacking when it comes to the strength of future rent growth, exit values and in some cases the regulatory environment.  That’s one of the areas up for discussion in our quarterly Talking Property: The House View podcast, which explores the opportunities and challenges ahead for the retail, office, industrial and living sectors.Tune in to hear CBRE’s Pacific Advisory Services CEO Phil Rowland Pacific Head of Research Sameer Chopra give their take on fresh interest in the retail investment market, the ongoing gap between office fundamentals and sentiment, the unprecedented demand conditions and supply side challenges in the residential market and whether occupier demand is beginning to moderate in the industrial sector.If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

By 2100, some 10 billion people will live in around 10,000 cities across the globe. Just in Australia, our population is tipped to rise by 15 million people over the next 36 years.So how do we accommodate this growth, deal with the current housing shortage, continue to decarbonise, harness the power of AI and manage the long-term impacts of the pandemic?These issues were centre stage at the Property Council of Australia’s Future Cities Summit, which was headlined by one of the world’s leading urbanists, Professor Greg Clark. He joins us on Talking Property alongside CBRE’s NSW Director of Government & Industry Ash Nicholson to discuss how we can make our cities liveable, loveable and prosperous.If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

The capital flowing into Australia’s commercial real estate sector dipped significantly in 2023, as many local and offshore investors sat on the sidelines. But are there signs of a market shift? In this latest Talking Property episode, we zero in on how global investors are viewing the Australian market, which sectors are most in favour, where the money is coming from and what the expectations are for the year ahead. CBRE’s Stuart McCann, Head of International Capital & Capital Advisory, Pacific and Southeast Asia joins Tom Broderick, CBRE’s Australian Head of Capital Markets Research, to discuss the outlook and some of the key trends highlighted in our latest Capital Flows report, which you can read here. If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Hundreds of Australian companies have just posted their half year results, including a swag of ASX-listed property stocks. Australian Financial Review columnist Robert Harley, The Australian’s commercial property editor Ben Wilmot and the Sydney Morning Herald’s commercial property editor Carolyn Cummins join this latest episode of Talking Property to cut through the financials, discuss the trends and give a view on what’s next. In this wide-ranging discussion, they touch on the sectors which outperformed, whether office is still a “dirty word”, why alternative assets are in focus and the outlook for asset values. If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Could building on top of older apartment blocks be one of the solutions to Australia’s housing crisis? Airspace above existing strata buildings is a $150 billion opportunity in Sydney alone according to one leading advocate. Equally, is going up the only solution for the owners of these blocks? Given tight rental market conditions across the country, there’s also huge demand from investors wanting to purchase these blocks outright.  It’s a topic explored in this latest episode of Talking Property featuring Warren Livesey, Head of the Association of Rooftop & Airspace Development, and CBRE Metropolitan Investments Director Toby Silk.They also delve into the opportunities for airspace development, not just above strata apartment blocks but also around hospitals, transportation hubs, fire and police stations to create key worker housing.If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

There are positive signals for the Australian real estate sector. Inflation is showing signs of moderating, interest rates appear to have peaked, employment remains resilient and cap rate expansion seems to be topping out. All of this is flowing through to improving investor sentiment.But we’re still in a very volatile and uncertain geopolitical environment and China’s economic woes are heightening. So, what does this mean for real estate?  Find out in this latest episode of Talking Property: The House View as CBRE’s Phil Rowland, Pacific Advisory Services CEO, and Sameer Chopra, Pacific Head of Research, chat about pricing, investor intentions, the vacancy outlook, cost of living pressures, and some of their key predictions. If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].