RESHAPING THE CITY: PERTH
CHART 6
BUILDING QUALITY INDEX – PRIME OFFICE
1.00
0.80
0.60
Demand for high-quality office environments has become a defining feature of Perth’s CBD. While traditional grades provide a shorthand for quality, the Building Quality Index (BQI) shows that performance varies widely within each grade.
0.40
0.20
Cushman & Wakefield’s BQI benchmarks assets against the four “S” pillars: Site, Situation, Sustainability, and Services. Applied to Perth, the results reveal distinct quality tiers within the prime segment. The first tier, mostly Premium, cluster tightly at the upper end of the scale and consistently record lower vacancy. From there, the index steps down sharply into a second tranche of assets with noticeably weaker quality scores, followed by a series of further drops that create multiple lower tiers. These breaks highlight that buildings are not spread evenly along the spectrum but instead group into clear bands of competitiveness. Premium buildings overall perform strongly, with only one asset sitting lower on the index due to its fringe location – though even there, performance is broadly in line with its position. By contrast, several A-grade assets fall into the “structural vacancy risk” zone, combining middling quality scores with persistently high vacancy. Without repurposing, repositioning, or major intervention, they risk being left behind despite their prime grade classification. Together, the BQI and vacancy mapping reinforce the same pattern observed across the CBD: location, elevation, and
0.00
A Grade
Premium Grade
SITE Locational features
BQI Range: 0 to 1 (0=lowest quality, 1=highest quality) * Each bar represents an individual prime office building located in the Perth CBD Source: Cushman & Wakefield Research
SUSTAINABILITY Environmental Perfofmance
BUILDING INDEX
CHART 7
SITUATION Building fundamentals
BUILDING QUALITY INDEX RATING AND VACANCY RATE, PRIME OFFICE
100%
SERVICES Tenant appeal
80%
Structural Vacancy Risk
60%
quality work together to define resilience. Prime assets in the core, particularly on higher floors, combine strong fundamentals with quality credentials and continue to capture the bulk of demand. By contrast, weaker prime assets without differentiation risk slipping into structural vacancy. The implication is clear: in Perth’s smaller market, where demand is concentrated and competition is intense, being central, elevated, and high-quality is no longer optional – it is the baseline for relevance.
Falling Vacancy Risk (Upside risk)
40%
20%
0%
Rising Vacancy Risk
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
BQI Range: 0 to 1 (0=lowest quality, 1=highest quality) Size of Bubble = NLA
A Grade
Premium Grade
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Research
CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD | 13
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