The increasing trend of people working from home has not dampened demand for premium office space in high rise towers in the country's main cities.
A review by property manager JLL NZ has found plenty of optimism, with investors and tenants looking for better, more collaborative and sustainable office spaces to attract and retain employees.
JLL's head of research, Gavin Read, said there was a divergence of demand between primary and secondary grade office space in terms of vacancy and rental growth.
"Nowhere is the flight to quality clearer than at (Auckland's) Wynyard Quarter, where prime buildings close to the waterfront continue to enjoy extremely low vacancy and strong pre-leasing activity for new builds."
Read said Wellington had a limited supply to meet ongoing government requirements.
"Even as some corporates have reduced their workspace requirements through the pandemic, much of this has been quickly absorbed by government or private occupiers or has been withdrawn."
He said the strong demand was putting pressure on rental levels, with prime gross rents in Wellington reaching $613 per square metre in the third quarter, while Auckland saw a rents rise to as much as $760 per square metre.
Read said demand was also strong in the other major centres.
"The upward pressure of Christchurch's limited supply has finally resulted in the first rise in prime office rents there for two and a half years," he said, adding the demand had seen a nominal 1.5 percent increase in prime rent to $335 per sq/m.
"With vacancy rates still sitting around percent and limited supply in the pipeline, options for tenants looking to relocate within the Christchurch prime office market remain extremely limited."
Read said the short supply of investment options in Auckland and Wellington was also driving up investor demand for Christchurch office assets.