Work-from-home fades as Auckland office workers return in force to city centre

Wednesday, 10 December 2025

Auckland city centre office workers have ditched the Covid-driven “work from home” norm and returned to the office with a vengeance, one of the country’s biggest listed property landlords says.

NZX-listed Precinct Properties has been researching worker behaviour in its network of office blocks around Commercial Bay in Auckland’s downtown, and the results show most are working in the office four days a week.

That’s up on the national average of 3.3 days highlighted in CBRE’s latest office occupier sentiment survey, which also noted office attendance in New Zealand was gaining ground.

Precinct also analysed lift usage in its office buildings, and found that office attendance was sitting around 75% to 85%, up from 70% to 80%.

More than 10,000 people work in Precinct’s five Commercial Bay offices: the PwC Tower, the Deloitte Centre, the HSBC Tower, Jarden House, and Aon Centre.

Working from home not on trend

Scott Pritchard, chief executive of Precinct Properties, said over the last year, but particularly the last six months, the notion of permanent working from home had gone.

“We just don’t hear about it as a trend these days. That’s because employers have recognised that people are much more productive in the office, and they want to see the benefits of that.

It was just “no longer a thing” for office workers, he said.

“They want their employees to be back in the office at least part of the time, and so there’s been a reversion back to where we were heading before Covid - which is to flexible, hybrid work arrangements.”

His company’s analysis was evidence of that, he said.

“If someone needs more flexibility, then employers will offer some working from home days, but it is very different to everyone working from home all the time.

“So more people are back in the office, and employers want the workspace necessary to accommodate that, and attract people back.”

That meant employers were investing in good office space, and that was positive for commercial landlords with quality office property, he said.

Three of Precinct’s Commercial Bay buildings were 100% occupied, and its Auckland premium and prime office occupancy rates were 98% and 96% respectively.

Flexible office space offerings

But Pritchard said the weaker economy had led his company to offer a range of flexible office space options.

About 10% of its portfolio across Auckland and Wellington was made up of private offices and suites, spec turnkey fitouts, or co-working offerings, he said.

“We will fund a fit out for a business to make it easy for them to move offices. We’ll get all the work done for them, and they can just move in and get on with things.

“Businesses are really responding to it as there is real appeal in not having the upfront capital cost of a fitout, and it also gives access to our portfolio of space that smaller businesses might not otherwise have.”

The benefits were reflected in the rental premium, but the buildings’ location and nearby amenities added to the strong demand, he said.

Quattro Albert is another prominent Auckland city centre landlord which has seen strong uptake of its flexible office space offerings.

Its flagship building One Albert, at the intersection of Albert and Customs Streets, is now more than 90% leased, while occupancy at its newer building The Formery should hit 85% by the end of the year.

NZ’s “return to work” ahead of other countries

CBRE’s survey put office attendance in New Zealand ahead of Australia, with 2.8 days, and the United States, with 2.9 days, and it also exceeded the aspirational targets of employers in those countries.

It also showed that across office markets in the three main centres, Christchurch workers were in the office the most at 3.8 days a week. Auckland’s attendance was 3.1 days, while Wellington’s was 3.0 days.

But Auckland has the biggest amount of office workers, with an estimated 159,000 workers in the main business district alone.

New Zealand’s average office utilisation, which is the percentage of office space occupied during a typical work week, was 64% in 2025, the CBRE survey showed.

That was significantly higher than the average utilisation rates in Australia (52%) and the US (51%).