Is AI Changing Australia's Office Market? What a Year of Listings Data Shows
A year of flexible office listings in inner Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane compared with the rest of each state: where space is going, and why prices have not followed AI.
Artificial intelligence is starting to show up in Australia's office market. JLL reports that Sydney's technology office footprint has nearly doubled since 2020, and expects AI to add to office demand as companies hire. The National AI Centre and CSIRO count the largest clusters of AI companies in Melbourne's CBD, central Sydney and Brisbane, and OpenAI and Anthropic have both opened Sydney offices in the past year. The question for anyone looking for an office is simpler: is any of this showing up in what flexible offices cost and how many are available?
We track every flexible office listed on Rubberdesk each week. This analysis compares the inner cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, where the AI companies are, with the rest of each state over the past year. The short answer: not yet. Prices have held steady or eased in all three inner cities, and the changes in supply follow each city's wider office market rather than its AI cluster.
How we measured it
- Source: weekly snapshots of every flexible office listed on Rubberdesk in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland: serviced, private and managed offices and coworking.
- Areas: the inner city of each capital compared with the rest of its state. Inner Sydney covers the CBD, Barangaroo, Tech Central (Haymarket, Ultimo, Surry Hills, Chippendale, Eveleigh and Camperdown), Pyrmont and the inner east and south. Inner Melbourne covers the CBD, Southbank, Docklands and the inner suburbs, including Cremorne, Richmond, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Carlton and South Melbourne. Inner Brisbane covers the CBD, Fortitude Valley, Newstead, Bowen Hills, Spring Hill, Kangaroo Point, South Brisbane, West End and Milton. Individual suburbs have too few listings to compare reliably on their own.
- Smoothing: each figure is a three-month average, comparing August to October 2026 with the same three months of 2025, to even out week-to-week swings when a large office is added or removed.
- Measures: the median private office rate per desk per month (rounded to the nearest $5), total flexible floorspace listed, and the number of listings.
What changed in a year
| Area | Median private office per desk | Change | Flexible floorspace listed | Change | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inner Sydney | $945 to $920 | -3% | 48,700 to 48,800 sq m | 0% | 682 to 642 |
| Rest of New South Wales | $600 to $600 | 0% | 24,500 to 21,500 sq m | -12% | 584 to 533 |
| Inner Melbourne | $705 to $700 | -1% | 39,800 to 28,000 sq m | -30% | 735 to 576 |
| Rest of Victoria | $565 to $545 | -4% | 11,000 to 10,100 sq m | -8% | 320 to 276 |
| Inner Brisbane | $620 to $595 | -3% | 11,400 to 18,000 sq m | +58% | 249 to 311 |
| Rest of Queensland | $590 to $620 | +5% | 6,300 to 6,400 sq m | +1% | 211 to 216 |
Three-month averages, August to October 2025 against August to October 2026.
Finding 1: there is no AI premium in flexible office prices
If AI demand were pushing up what flexible offices cost, the inner cities, where the AI companies cluster, would be getting more expensive than the rest of each state. They are not. The median private office eased by 3% in inner Sydney and inner Brisbane and was flat in inner Melbourne. Inner Sydney is still the most expensive flexible office market in the country, at around $920 a desk a month, but it was more expensive a year ago.
Finding 2: Melbourne has the most AI companies but the fastest-shrinking market
Melbourne's CBD has the largest single cluster of AI companies in Australia, and JLL rates it the most exposed of the capital city office markets to AI demand. Yet inner Melbourne lost almost a third of its listed flexible floorspace over the year, far more than the rest of Victoria.
That looks like the wider Melbourne office market rather than AI. JLL put Melbourne CBD vacancy at 20.5% in mid-2026, the highest of the three cities, with more space vacated than taken over the year. Operators in a soft market consolidate, and prices have not risen as space has come off the market.
Finding 3: Sydney is holding steady and Brisbane is growing
Inner Sydney's flexible supply was unchanged over the year, while the rest of New South Wales fell by 12%. Inner Brisbane grew strongly, adding more than half again to its listed floorspace, mostly from operators already on Rubberdesk taking on more space. Both match the wider market: JLL recorded healthy demand in the Sydney and Brisbane CBDs over the year, and Brisbane has the lowest CBD vacancy of the three, at 10.6%.
You can see today's live figures for each district in our guide to office space in Australia's AI hubs.
Why AI demand is not yet pushing up flexible office prices
Research on AI occupiers helps explain the pattern. JLL finds that AI companies favour premium, high-grade buildings and are willing to pay for them, so much of their demand goes to conventional leases in the best CBD towers rather than to flexible offices. The Executive Centre, a flexible office operator, says AI firms are using flexible space as a hedge because headcount is hard to forecast, and expects most of its larger flexible tenants to move into their own leases within about 18 months.
AI firms also remain a small share of the market. JLL estimates that AI could add around 483,000 sq m of office demand in Australia by 2030, but that is a projection, and most of it is still to come. For now, the flexible office market in each city is moving with its wider office market, not with its AI cluster.
What it means if you are looking for an office
- Sydney: prices have eased slightly and supply is steady, so there is choice in both the CBD and Tech Central. The CBD is where AI demand for flexible space is most visible, so start early for larger teams.
- Melbourne: a tenant's market. Prices are flat and vacancy is high, but flexible supply is shrinking, so the best offices may not stay available for long.
- Brisbane: the most new flexible space of the three cities and prices below Sydney's. The CBD office market is tight, which makes flexible space a good way to secure an office quickly.
- Uncertain headcount: if AI changes how many people you need, flexible terms protect you either way. Short agreements let you take more desks or give them back without a long lease.
Looking for space in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane?
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What the data cannot tell us
- Why a listing leaves the market. An office comes off Rubberdesk when it is let, but also when an operator withdraws it or lists it elsewhere. Falling supply is a signal of demand or of consolidation, not proof of either.
- Who took the space. We do not know which occupiers moved in, so we cannot say how much of any change is AI companies rather than technology firms or the wider market.
- Traditional leases. These figures cover flexible offices only. Conventional leased space in the same areas can move differently.
- Suburb detail. Individual suburbs such as Cremorne or Tech Central have too few listings for a reliable year-on-year comparison, which is why we group the inner city.
We will repeat this analysis as the quarterly figures come in. For more detail on each city, see our Sydney and Melbourne price guides and the latest Australian flexible office space report.
Analysis by Rubberdesk from weekly snapshots of flexible office listings, October 2026. Figures are three-month averages and rounded.
Sources: JLL, July 2026; Real Estate Business, July 2026 (JLL); JLL, January 2025; The Urban Developer, August 2026 (JLL office market data); National AI Centre and CSIRO 2025 AI ecosystem report, via IDM, July 2025; IT Brief, August 2026 (The Executive Centre); Technology Decisions, December 2025; IT Brief, April 2026.
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