The Australian cities where working from home is still out of favour
Companies are leasing premium office space to entice workers back, but employees in one major capital are holding out
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The post-COVID return to CBD offices continues across Australia, with the average office occupancy rate climbing to 76 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2024, according to new CBRE figures. Workers are gradually responding to their employers’ requests to attend their offices more regularly to enable greater collaboration with workmates. The occupancy rate has risen from 70 percent in the December quarter and 67 percent 12 months ago.
Occupancy rates improved across all capital cities during the March quarter, with Perth and Adelaide maintaining the strongest rates of 93 percent and 88 percent respectively. CBRE analysis suggests shorter commuting times and less structured working-from-home arrangements in these cities have contributed to higher rates of return. Brisbane’s occupancy rate is 86 percent of pre-COVID levels, weighed down by a slower return within the public sector, which represents 35 percent of the city’s office space. This same trend is being seen in Canberra, where the occupancy rate is just 66 percent.
In Sydney, the occupancy rate has risen to 77 percent, largely due to major banks and professional services firms pushing for more staff to return to the office this year. There has been a significant increase in workers returning to offices in Melbourne, with the occupancy rate up from 57 percent last quarter to 62 percent now. However, this is still the lowest attendance rate in the capital cities.
Businesses are increasingly pushing workers to return to the office because they are concerned working from home over multiple years will have a negative long-term impact on company-wide productivity. Part of the problem is new employees not having regular access to senior staff so they can learn and work more effectively and productively. CBRE says lower levels of collaboration and interaction reduce innovation, which is a particular concern for technology firms. They were quick to embrace remote working during COVID, but are now seeing dampened creativity among staff.
Tuesday is the peak day for attendance at CBD offices and Friday is the lowest day. Two-thirds of organisations that have moved their corporate headquarters since COVID have chosen to upgrade to premium office buildings, according to CBRE’s research. Premium blocks typically feature retail, restaurants, and recreational amenities on the ground floor, and command a higher rent. Companies are deciding it’s worth the cost to entice workers backand keep them feeling happy and engaged.
Jenny Liu, Director of Workplace Consulting at CBRE, said a vibrant workplace experience is essential.
“A workplace experience isn’t just environment, cool furniture and tech anymore,” she said. “It’s the culture, ways of working, leadership, and how vibrancy is created.”
Some companies are using apps that inform staff who will be in the office tomorrow. CBRE Research Manager Thomas Biglands said:
“It’s important that you achieve a critical mass of visitation so that employees come in and feel as though the office is vibrant and full,” he said.
Some firms are linking salary and promotions to office attendance to reward those workers providing higher contributions to corporate culture and mentoring younger staff.
The rate of return to offices in Australia is much higher than in the United States, where occupancy rates have remained at about 50 percent over the past year. CBRE analysis suggests this may be due to better public transport, shorter commutes and lower inner-city crime rates in Australia.
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A vibrant 1954 Palm Springs home featuring eight colorful murals by late artist Shawn Savage is on the market for $2.295 million. The 2,237-square-foot property features bold hot-pink doors, three bedrooms, a pool, mountain views and playful interiors blending modern glamour with classic Palm Springs style.
3 min
A bold 1950s home in Palm Springs, California, adorned with eight colorful murals by the late artist Shawn Savage, is coming to market ahead of the city’s annual Modernism Week.
The white stucco home on El Camino Way, built in 1954 and recently renovated, has an asking price of $2.295 million. Its staggered facade features three playfully abstract murals on either side of double-height hot pink doors.
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The sellers are Los Angeles-based partners John Freeman and Mathieu Faure, who knew it was “the one” when they saw it after several months of searching in the winter of 2023. “It’s a happy house,” Freeman said. “We really liked the feel of the house: the uniqueness, the openness, the brightness—and the art.”
Located in the Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs, which backs up to the San Jacinto Mountains, the 2,237-square-foot house features three bedrooms, an angled bonus room and a yard with a pool, desert mountain views and another colorful mural running alongside the pool.
“I never thought in my life I would have a house with pink doors,” said Faure, a producer at Apple TV who is originally from Paris. “It’s so colorful, it’s so different. And so Palm Springs.”
The layout of the home creates a smooth flow from the front doors through the open-plan common area—a foyer, bar, and living and dining room—into the kitchen around a fireplace wall and out to the yard. A corridor leads to a private bedroom wing, where the primary suite has floor-to-ceiling windows and the primary bath is only a tad smaller than the bedroom.
Faure has filled the home with Jonathan Adler furniture, rugs and accessories, riffing on the energetic California vibes of the house to create an aesthetic of “modern American glamour,” he said.
“It was enjoyable for me to play with different types of furniture and make this house ‘happy chic,’ as I describe it,” he said.
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“He did a fantastic job,” said Freeman, who is an attorney and consultant. “It does kind of bring a smile to my face whenever I walk into the house.”
Since the furniture and decor were chosen for the particularities of the space, the couple is open to selling them with the home. Their West Hollywood house is already furnished; the collection doesn’t match the vibes of a Houston loft they bought near family; and Faure can’t imagine these pieces in New York—where he’s lived in the past—he said.
The duo bought the Palm Springs house for $1.925 million in 2024, according to property records, and will list the home Monday. They are represented by Stewart Smith, Patrick Jordan and Kevin Stanley of Bennion Deville Homes/Luxury Portfolio International.
The previous owners had purchased the home in 2021 for $975,000 and then spent more than two years and $700,000 on the renovation, according to Realtor.com. They commissioned Savage, a local Palm Springs artist and painter known for his joyful abstract work, to decorate the home.
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Savage, who died in 2024, lived in the Coachella Valley from 2003, and his work can be found in various local institutions and is on exhibit at the Illumine Gallery in Palm Springs. “Some artists pass through a place. Shawn Savage became a part of it,” the gallery’s description states.
Unsurprisingly, the murals invite lots of friendly conversations, as well as guided tours and interested lookers, but never to a degree that it disturbed the peacefulness of their home or the neighborhood, the sellers said. “It felt like living in an art gallery, and you have the exterior that you would share with the world,” Faure explained.
The neighborhood also played a role in their decision to buy, because of its access to the hiking trails of the San Jacinto Mountains, the lack of through-roads and the neighborly environment.
“It’s a very friendly place,” Faure said.
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