The Potential in Unloved Office Buildings遇冷办公楼的新商机

This is how some landlords are looking to convert office properties to residential apartments to generate more rent. 有些业主正试图把办公楼房产改造成住宅式公寓楼以获得更多租金，以下是具体做法。

The long-term trends of work from home and the residential accommodation shortage are coming together to breathe new life into second-tier city offices.

在家工作的长期趋势和居民住房短缺二者共同作用，为二线城市办公楼市场注入新的活力。

While demand for A-grade office accommodation remains solid （albeit with significantly higher incentives）， property owners are struggling to find tenants for B-， C- and D-grade CBD offices. Some are half or three-quarters empty as the soft economy reduces demand for all but the best office space.

A级办公楼的需求仍然稳定（但这是因为借助于力度比以往更大的激励措施），而房地产业主难以租出B级、C级和D级中央商务区办公楼。由于疲软的经济，除去最佳办公场所之外其他办公空间的需求都减弱了，有些办公楼的空置率达到一半，甚至高达四分之三。

Underlying this is the structural shift to work from home， suggesting that even when the economy picks up again， these buildings will still struggle to attract tenants.

背后的深层原因是趋向在家办公的结构性转变，也预示着即使经济重新得到改善，这些楼房仍然很难吸引租户。

Tenant demands for more environmentally sustainable office accommodation and better amenities—such as end-of-trip facilities1 and flexi space—mean the investment case2 for many lower-grade buildings is greatly diminished. As Mirvac’s3 Campbell Hanan said at the recent Australian Financial Review Property Summit： “There will be winners and losers.”

租户需要更具环境可持续性的办公空间和更好的便利设施——诸如终途便利设施和灵活空间，这意味着对许多低端办公楼进行投资不再有充足的理由。正如米尔瓦克集团公司的坎贝尔·哈南在近期《澳大利亚金融评论报》的房地产峰会上所言：“将来既有赢家也会有输家。”

At the same time， there is no sign that Australia’s residential property shortage is alleviating.

但在此时，还看不到澳大利亚住宅房产短缺得到缓解的迹象。

Some landlords of B-， C- and D-grade offices are responding to the two trends by looking to convert their office properties to residential apartments and generating higher rental returns than they were from the offices.

为应对这两种趋势，一些B级、C级和D级办公楼的业主正在设法把他们的办公楼房产改造成住宅式公寓，以期获得比出租办公楼更高的租金回报。

Most of the developers and owners considering re-adapting offices are looking at build-to-rent models. They’re backed by institutional money seeking a return from long-term cash flow generating assets and generally look to do it at a scale greater than off-the-plan4 developers.

考虑改造办公楼的大多数开发商和业主正在研究“建后出租”模式。他们得到机构资本的支持，这些资本从长期产生现金流的资产中寻求回报，而且通常希望比那些期房开发商的投资规模更大。

Repurposed buildings

改变用途的楼房

Additionally， demand for off-the-plan apartments has been weak since 2017， and it could take weeks if not months for developers to sell these apartments， although this may improve as immigration returns and apartment prices lift.

此外，2017年以来，对期房公寓楼的需求一直疲软，开发商可能需要数周甚至是数月才能卖出这些公寓楼，尽管随着移民回流和公寓房价格上涨，这种情况可能会有所改善。

Not all buildings are suitable for re-adaption.

但并非所有楼房都适合改造。

As a general rule， big office towers won’t work. Their large floor plates make them difficult to convert， in particular because it’s often impossible to get enough natural light coming through the buildings.

一般来说，大型办公楼无法重新改造。它们巨大的楼板就让改造难以实施，特别是因为常常无法让充足的自然光照进大楼。

Apartment dwellers also need fresh air and， if possible， a balcony， and it’s usually too expensive to add these to an office tower.

公寓的住户也需要新鲜空气，而且如果可能，还需要阳台。但因成本过高，一般无法在大型办公楼上增加这些设施。

However， smaller buildings often can be repurposed for housing. These are generally older buildings with period appeal and which can be converted at a price to make the projects feasible.

不过，较小的办公楼一般稍加改造就可以用作住宅。这类建筑大都是颇具年代感的老旧楼房，能够以项目可行的成本进行改造。

For the right property， the surge in building costs over the past few years has made adaptive reuse5 a cost-effective alternative to demolition and rebuilding.

对于合适的房地产，由于过去几年里建筑成本飙升，适应性再利用已成为比拆除和重建更加划算的选项。

Another factor in favour of re-adaption is the possibility of support from federal and state governments as they seek innovative solutions to the housing crisis.

另一个有利于改造的因素是有可能获得联邦政府和州政府的支持，因为政府也在寻求住房危机的创新性解决方案。

Overseas examples

海外案例

For the sector to take off6， the planning and development approval processes in the capital cities will need to speed up to give developers the confidence they need to undertake these projects. Governments could also potentially provide additional incentives and relaxation of some regulations.

该行业要想平地起飞，就必须提高各州府城市规划开发审批流程的效率，从而给予开发商承接这些项目所需的信心。政府还可以适时提供更多的激励措施，并放宽某些规定。

For governments， adaptive reuse offers a way to increase urban density and rejuvenate capital city CBDs while minimising urban sprawl7.

对政府来说，适应性再利用提供了这样一种方式：在最大限度减少城市无序扩张的同时，增加城市密度和复兴州府城市中央商务区。

A recent study by the Property Council of Australia found about 86 Melbourne CBD office buildings “ripe for adaptive reuse”， which could create up to 12，000 new homes.

澳大利亚房地产协会的最近一项研究发现，墨尔本约有86座中央商务区办公楼“适宜适应性再利用”，这样就能创造多达1.2万户新的住宅。

The sector is more advanced overseas.

这个行业在海外发展得更好。

In New York， for instance， the city government has established the Office Adaptive Reuse Task Force， which is exploring opportunities to convert outdated office space to other potential uses， especially housing. It wants to facilitate the conversion of the city’s unused office spaces into 40，000 apartments.