Fitzroys Market Report - Melbourne CBD

the weekends,” he said. Analysis by the City of Melbourne showed that Fridays and Saturdays have led the CBD recovery. There are more people visiting the city on weekends than prior to the lockdowns 3 , lifting pedestrian activity between 9pm and 2am across the entire week to 97% of pre-COVID benchmarks, and more money spent on retail and dining 4, driving afterdark trade to be at or above 2019 levels consistently since April last year 5 . Saturday spending between October and December was 120% of pre-pandemic levels 6 . Weekdays show pedestrian movements at around three-quarters of 2019 levels, but economic activity has recovered more strongly as visitors spend more per person.

In 2022, nearly 130 new hospitality venues opened up in the city, comprising cafés, restaurants, and entertainment venues such as creative and performing arts sites, nightclubs and physical recreation sites. The activity represents a record for the hospitality sector in the CBD, according to Melbourne City Council.

“The recession of the 1990s was followed by innovation and new business activity. Small bars opened, laneways were activated and inner-city living took off. We’re seeing something similar now,” Lockwood said.

Lockwood said that fitted hospitality spaces remained by far the fastestmoving stock, but the attraction of the CBD to hospitality tenants was so great that demand had spilled over to operators willing to lease up specialty spaces and retrofit them with kitchen infrastructure. Some tenants have have a positive effect on daytime trade, and will spill over further into nighttime activity throughout the week.” spent up to $1 million on fit-outs for these types of spaces.

“With COVID lockdowns and restrictions in the rearview mirror, we’re expecting office occupancy to lift steadily throughout 2023. That will

Melbourne City Council has said residential occupancy levels are now back to pre-COVID levels, while international students are making a return to the city as on-campus classes resume and international borders continue to re-open, particular in China. Beijing’s snap edict that the Chinese Ministry for Education would only acknowledge degrees awarded to students attending in-person classes – rather than online – suddenly means tens of thousands of Chinese students enrolled at universities across the country will need to arrive in Australia ahead of semester one to have their studies honoured. According to the Australian Government Department of Education, there were nearly 179,000 international students studying Victorian courses in 2022, and more than 46,000 were from China 7. Many of these were not in the country.

“The return of Chinese international students will be a major boost for the CBD. There has been a noticeable uptick in activity during day and night over the past year as students returned

3 https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-s-night-mayor-hails-city-s-comeback-as-foot-traffic-spending-up-20230213-p5cjzg.html

4 https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melbournes-cbd-is-now-busier-on-weekends-than-weekdays/news-story/36490b3231786601463a79d806583f46

5 https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-s-night-mayor-hails-city-s-comeback-as-foot-traffic-spending-up-20230213-p5cjzg.html

6 https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melbournes-cbd-is-now-busier-on-weekends-than-weekdays/news-story/36490b3231786601463a79d806583f46 7 https://www.education.gov.au/international-education-data-and-research/international-student-numbers-country-state-and-territory