Australia CBD Retail Vacancy Rises to 10.8% on Melbourne Supply Wave

Australia’s central business district retail vacancy rate rose 40 basis points to 10.8 per cent in the first half of 2026 as fresh retail completions in Melbourne added new space.

A survey of 5,669 retail tenancies across five state capitals by real estate services firm CBRE showed that shop vacancies declined in four of the five cities, leaving Melbourne as the lone driver of the national increase. Melbourne’s CBD vacancy rate climbed 160 basis points to 8.1 per cent following the launch of two retail centres. Sydney held the tightest retail core in the country, with vacancy standing at 5.3 per cent.

State Capital Breakdown

Adelaide posted the sharpest improvement among metropolitan centres, where retail vacancy dropped 130 basis points to 10.4 per cent. Brisbane recorded an 80-basis-point decline to 16.7 per cent, while Perth edged down 10 basis points to 18.5 per cent.

Physical retail space in Australian city centres remains structurally tight over the long term. CBD retail stock accounted for just 4.2 per cent of total new retail supply built across the country over the past decade, limiting the risk of prolonged oversupply even as consumer budgets tighten.

Luxury and Experiential Demand

Foot traffic gains from returning office workers, inbound tourists, and major events have kept cash registers moving in primary shopping strips. Luxury brands and premium apparel retailers continue to take prime floor space in Sydney and Melbourne, competing directly against dining and wellness concepts that landlords rely on to anchor footfall.

For retail property operators across the Asia-Pacific region, Australia’s low single-digit prime core vacancies mirror similar supply squeezes in Tokyo and Singapore. Landlords in secondary locations, however, face longer leasing cycles as retail groups focus their capital expenditure almost exclusively on high-traffic street corners and flagship malls.

Leasing agents now turn their attention to absorption rates in Melbourne’s two newest downtown complexes over the second half of 2026, which will determine whether the city’s vacancy rate stabilizes before next year’s development pipeline delivers.