A wave of COVID-19 cases and flu infections over winter has been blamed for a significant drop in office occupancy rates across most major cities, according to data released by the Property Council of Australia on Thursday.

Canberra and Perth were the only markets to record an increase in office occupancy, from 53 to 61 per cent and 65 to 71 per cent, respectively.

Melbourne had the lowest return-to-office rate in July. The figures show the occupancy rate of Melbourne offices dropped from 49 per cent in June to 38 per cent in July, while in Sydney the rate fell from 55 to 52 per cent, in Brisbane from 64 to 53 per cent, and Adelaide from 71 to 64 per cent.

Property Council Chief Executive Ken Morrison said a rise in illness during the winter season was a contributing factor in the decline.

“Office occupancy numbers have gone backwards for the first time in six months as a wave of Omicron and flu cases kept workers away from the office,” he said.

“We have been seeing a steady increase in the number of workers returning to offices, but this stalled in June and has now declined in most capitals, which is disappointing but unsurprising.”

Office occupancy rates in Melbourne have remained below 50 per cent since the start of the pandemic, while in Sydney and Brisbane occupancy rates peaked during a lull in COVID-19 cases in early to mid-2021.

Victorian opposition jobs spokesman David Southwick called on the state government to more strongly enforce its three-day-a-week, in-office model for public servants to lift foot traffic for traders.

“If we keep going the way we are, Monday and Friday in the CBD will be closed for business,” he told reporters at a Melbourne café.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said people were flocking to the city centre for leisure, retail and dining, as evidenced by the CBD recording its biggest monthly spend in July.

“But the confidence to come in for work is not and we need to change that,” she told Network Seven.

With the peak passing for Victoria’s third Omicron wave, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed there is a trigger point for the relaxing of working from home advice but did not say what it was.

“People are making their own judgements,” he said.

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