These changes raise a longer-term question about how much room Chatswood should retain for jobs and services.
Is Chatswood losing its offices? Vacancy and housing proposals explained
Some of Chatswood’s older office space has been withdrawn for housing. Further proposals along the Pacific Highway could replace existing offices or reduce the commercial space required in new developments.
Published on Last updated:
July snapshots of total office vacancy in each year, rather than annual averages.
Property Council of Australia surveys, as reported by Cadigal and Knight Frank.
| Year | Overall vacancy |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.3% |
| 2023 | 16.1% |
| 2024 | 20.6% |
| 2025 | 20.2% |
| 2026 | 19.4% |
Vacancy has fluctuated rather than risen steadily. It has eased from its 2024 level, but close to a fifth of Chatswood’s office space remains empty. The improvement so far is modest.
| Office grade | July 2026 vacancy |
|---|---|
| Prime | 28.4% |
| Secondary | 10.8% |
Prime offices are the market’s higher-grade buildings. Their vacancy rate is more than twice that of secondary offices, so the weakness is not confined to lower-grade space.
Tenant departures help explain some of the pressure. Knight Frank records UGL leaving 2,400 sqm at 12 Help Street for North Sydney in 2025.
Competition from North Sydney and Macquarie Park gives tenants more opportunities to move or upgrade. Knight Frank reports that this is putting pressure on Chatswood landlords to offer incentives and limiting rental growth.
Housing proposals on the Pacific Highway
The proposals affect both existing offices and the amount of space reserved for businesses in future developments.
815 Pacific Highway
The applicant proposes apartments over ground-floor shops and argues that the existing office tenants can find space elsewhere in Chatswood. Council wants more of the site kept for long-term employment. State planners have also asked for a redesign to address the tower’s scale and the space for pedestrians.
845 Pacific Highway
The applicant wants to replace a 7-storey office building and a car wash with apartments above retail or commercial premises. That requires a change to the site’s planning controls to allow housing.
849–859 Pacific Highway and Wilson Street
The Chatswood Grand Residences site has no standing office building. The applicant is seeking to cut the minimum share of the new development reserved for uses other than housing from 17% to 3.3%. That decision affects how much space must be kept for businesses and services in the future.
What to watch next
In any revised Pacific Highway plans, look for how much space is set aside specifically for offices. A floor labelled ‘commercial’ could be a shop, so the label alone does not say how much room will remain for office tenants.
Council’s draft Chatswood 2060 master plan, expected in 2027, should give a wider view of which parts of the centre it wants to keep for employment as more homes are built.
