ABSTRACT
This chapter considers in more detail a range of largely urban-based property sectors – commercial, retail and residential (as an investment medium) – together with aspects of ownership and management of properties held by government and other organisations for purposes other than the securing of rental income. That general sector employs four out of every five Australian workers and includes all manner of professional services, banking and finance, government activities, et cetera, practically all typically domicile in office buildings. In those urban areas, about 91 per cent of retail trade is undertaken in regional, sub-regional and neighbourhood centres, with central business district retail trade now representing only 5 per cent of activity. As industrial sectors have become larger and more private sector developers and investors have been attracted, the involvement of the state governments in such activities has diminished rapidly.
