In Sydney, the asking price for prestigious office space that is currently under construction is rumoured to be up to $1400 a square metre.

The anticipated rise in the costs of office space is typical of a market coming out of a recession and reflects the fact that relatively few new development projects have been started in the past couple of years.

Melbourne’s premium rent is more like $550 per sq m, but independent adviser Urbis has predicted a rise of about 10-12 per cent over the next two years.

Australia’s major cities remain among the most expensive in the world for parking space fees and office accommodation – a reflection in the lack of supply and the expected rise in demand for office space as numbers of white-collar workers rise.

DTZ’s 13th annual Global Occupancy Costs report, highlights six Australian cities that are among the world’s 100 most expensive.

According to the report, Sydney’s ranking has increased from position 45 in 2009 to 23 in the latest data – putting it well ahead of many international business precincts including downtown New York, Brussels and Berlin.

Melbourne jumped from rank 86 in 2009 to 53 in 2010. Brisbane is ranked 29, followed by Perth (32), Canberra (73) and Adelaide (80).

SpaceOut continues to offer a realistic alternative for people searching for cheap and convenient office space to rent.

Data released yesterday by Commsec shows that over the last 20 years, the average size of a home in Australia has increased by more than 30%.

The houses are emptier too, with the number of people in each home gradually declining over the last 100 years because of a trend towards smaller families.  This trend has only just started to change, with the number of people to a dwelling rising slightly last year – the first time it has done so in over a century.

However, with the increase in house sizes, there appears to be a corresponding increase  in rental costs.  A report from BIS Shrapnel has  also forecast that rents are expected to spiral – with increased rents of 5% a year in most capital cities over the next few years.

So, if you (like many Aussies apparently) are living in a large home  and have more space than you know what to do with, now is a prime opportunity to cash in on it.  You can convert that empty,  unused, or spare  space into a regular extra income – simply advertise your space for rent, make some extra cash, and provide an opportunity for someone else in your community to save money on storage costs.

Brisbane inner city suburbs including Herston, Kelvin Grove, Bowen Hills, Teneriffe and Newstead are to be targeted.  The overhaul would see the number of parking meters increase by 240% from 3750 to 9000.

The council’s Labor Opposition has labelled the expansion plan a “grab for cash”.  Labor’s Cr David Hinchliffe said :

“What is unstated is that this is about parking meter revenue and reducing the number of parking permits that will exempt residents from having to pay for meters. That is what it is all about“.

In the 2008-2009 financial year, 2900 Brisbane parking meters earned $7.5 million. Since July, about 800 more meters have been installed in the inner-city. About 5200 new meters would be added under the changes.

Residential Parking Permit  rules change

There is also expected to be a tightening of the current residential parking permit scheme, which gives exemptions to city fringe residents who do not have access to off-street parking.

Currently, about 19,000 parking permits are issued to residents, most of them in the suburbs of Woolloongabba, Dutton Park, West End, Bowen Hills, Fortitude Valley, Kangaroo Point and St Lucia.  Residents can apply for one residential parking permit and one additional permit.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the current permit system – which allow residents to park on inner-city streets without having to pay parking meters or pay parking fines – was being abused, with some permits were being photocopied, given to neighbours and sold for up to $10 each.

The council is also facing pressure in a number of inner-city suburbs with commuters from outer suburbs driving into the inner-city before catching public transport to the CBD.

Under the suggested changes, residents of inner-city Brisbane will need to prove that they the homeowner or renter with a tenancy agreement of more than six  months. They will also have to provide a current vehicle registration certificate and  need to demonstrate that they do not have enough room to park off the street.

A Golden Opportunity for SpaceOut Members

The proposed increase in parking meters and changes to the rules for residential parking permits are certain to make it much more difficult to find parking spots close to Brisbane city.  This presents a fabulous opportunity for residents with a parking space that they are not using – to rent it out and turn their unused space into cash.

A new Australian Government report released yesterday, reveals that a frightening number of Australians suffered financial pain in the first six months of this year.

The survey of over 1600 families found more than a third considered themselves financially worse off in the six months to June 2009.

• 1 in five families reported levels of hardship that meant that made it hard for them to pay their utility bills.
• Of the families unable to pay their rent or mortgage on time, nearly 80 per cent were suffering this way for the first time.
• Of those who had gone without food, 70 per cent had not experienced this before.

Coincidentally, the government survey was released on the same day Anglicare Australia released its annual State of the Family report. The Anglicare report also highlights that Families have been under increasing pressure because of rising costs.

Families are using a variety of strategies to save money and reduce their costs including :

• One in 10 is putting off plans for a new job
• Five per cent have put off having a child until the economy improves
• Five per cent have postponed their wedding celebrations in order to save money
• One in three is travelling less
• One in four is spending more time with the family
• One in five is planning to grow their own vegetables

Obviously SpaceOut also offers a great option for many struggling families – to either make money by renting out unused space in their homes – or to save money on self storage costs.

Here’s some of what people are saying about SpaceOut recently (in fact all these comments have been received withn the last 7 days). My personal favourites are in green , and my thoughts are at the end.

• ”a fabulous idea in todays hard times!!”
• ”well set out”
• ”what a fab idea”
• ‘Luv your site anyway……………………………keep it up
• ”very easy and fast”
• “Great website! I am a software tester for a living and I really liked.
• “Dear Friends, you are wonderful, this is a genius type of an idea. God Bless you your website looks great although I did not explored it in detail. but what counts is an idea! Well done! Hopefully your clients will multiply like mushrooms after the rain soon”
• ”Very well setup and easy site to navigate. Good luck and I hope it takes off?”
• ”I have just placed up my ad… so easy and can not wait to hear from potential clients… yea ha ”
• ”i think it is a great idea”
• ”great idea ”
• ‘Terrific”
• ”All the questions I wanted to know have been answered. Thankyou.”
• ”A great idea and one I’ll use to hopefully store someone’s stuff in a way which will benefit both parties.”
• ”Great concept, have been thinking about renting out spare space for a long time, now i can do it easily”
• ”What a fantastic idea! I read about this in the Sunday Times. I have a large home with plenty of space and did not even think about renting out the space I have.”
• ”What a fabulous idea! Wish we knew of this before we put our house up for Auction. A great little cash flow earner!”
• ”Provides a useful service”
• ”wonderful, awesome words are not enough……..”
• ”It was easy to find what I was searching for.”
• ”I think this is a great idea, as I am about to take time off work to have a baby. Some extra cash would be wonderful.”
• ”- great! easy to use..”
• ”excellent idea, and now we know what to do with the spare space…thanx’
• ”Great idea, will be interested to see if it works for us. Good luck and I hope you business is a success”
• ”Just read about Spaceout in the Sunday Times. What a great idea, am now checking out your site with a view to listing some spare space I have.”

Damon’s comments.

From the moment of conception, I loved SpaceOut. I loved the concept, its simplicity, and I loved the potential this gives to average people to make or save significant money. But it was not until we started asking for user’s thoughts that I knew that I wasn’t alone.

We have had such wonderful feedback from our customers that I felt compelled to share it. But what I really sensed from our customer base is that SpaceOut brings out the nicest in people. We have created a genuine community based revolution and I hope that you can experience this too.

You Can Help Us Promote SpaceOut

We love it when SpaceOut makes it into the news – and in fact it is important for the ongoing growth of our service.  The higher our profile, the more people get to hear about our service, the more visitors we get to the site, and the faster our members are able to rent out their spaces, or find a space that meets their needs.

We regularly get contacted by the media wanting to talk to our members – but we are not prepared to pass on member details without your permission.  So if you are a SpaceOut member and have a story to tell, or are willing to talk to the media, please let us know, and we will put you in touch – and as a thank you we may also do a feature post on you or your space on the blog – or maybe even offer you an enhanced listing.

The Today Tonight Story

I think the TT report was a great piece, and whilst SpaceOut’s primary focus is Storage, we were still mentioned on the TT website, which generated a reasonable amount of traffic and some extra members and listings as well.  The story also featured some great comments from Matt Mitchell of Findacarpark (a great service that focuses exclusively on Car parking Spaces).

In case you missed the story … here it is.., I think that it is definitely worth a look :

When they need something, rather than going out and buying it, people are talking to their friends, colleagues and neighbours and increasingly, swapping and sharing the things that they need. According to the article,

“A car-sharing service has had a 70 percent membership increase since the recession set in. Governments are putting bikes on the street for public use. How-to-swap Web sites are proliferating.”

Obviously the services offered by SpaceOut fall right into the realms of the Washington Post article… and it’s not just in the US, or Australia – it is world-wide that people are getting smarter and maximising the benefits they can get out of everything they own (not just their space).