Concerns for businesses despite expected rise in Melbourne CBD’s population
Melbourne’s CBD population – and the number of parking tickets – is set to boom under projections by the city’s council, but the peak property industry group has warned that more needs to be done to get people back into offices.
The City of Melbourne’s draft 2022-23 budget papers, handed down on Tuesday, reveal expected revenue is forecast to increase by 13% to $538.7m, but the number of businesses operating in the CBD is projected to fall by more than 10%.
The CBD’s population is expected to swell to 54,738 – up from 37,112 forecast in last year’s budget.
The Property Council of Australia has warned the push to boost city office workers cannot rely on government incentives indefinitely.
The number of CBD businesses is forecast to fall, from a projected 9,444 that was contained in last year’s budget, to 8,230 in the next financial year, with business owners struggling amid the city’s lagging office occupancy rate.
The Property Council of Australia’s Victorian head, Danni Hunter, said Melbourne’s business sector, city council and state government had to unite to encourage people “to make working in the office the choice they want to make”.
“We absolutely have to focus on our office community. That’s the real gap in the increase in the activity we’ve seen in recent months that has been driven by event activation and amazing hospitality incentives like Melbourne Money,” Hunter said.
“We have to put a renewed focus on encouraging and incentivising people to come back to the office, and that can’t rely on government incentives for ever.”
According to the budget papers, there is “an expected increase in CBD activity and visitation as revenue recovers to post Covid levels” next financial year.
As a result, the budget has forecast a 64%
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