After a stop–start first half of the year, boutique city specialist Melbourne Boutique Property (MBP) says Melbourne’s CBD apartment market is finishing 2025 on a firmer footing, with investor activity lifting and buyer sentiment improving ahead of the Metro Tunnel opening.

“It was a tough first six months,” MBP director Suzie Inglis told CBD News. “People expected it to be stronger at the start of this year and it just wasn’t. But now that we’ve had a couple of interest rate drops and there’s a little bit more confidence in the market, we’ve seen investors from interstate returning as well.”

Ms Inglis said the agency had sold several CBD apartments in the past six months to interstate buyers. MBP is also fielding more enquiry following October policy changes reducing the deposit hurdle for some buyers. “The barriers to entry are less. That’s brought a bit of buoyancy back in the second half of the year, and I think that should continue into next year.”

Even so, she said the city was “always the slowest to recover whenever there’s been a down”, with lingering perceptions about safety still costing deals.

It takes a bit of convincing with the city at the moment. I’ve lost buyers looking at a nice apartment with us on Spring St who then decide to go to South Yarra or Richmond,” she said. “The safety issue is a big one – and it’s people that don’t experience the city often who have that perception. If you’re here regularly, you love it. What you see on the news isn’t exactly what it’s like.
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MBP is leaning into the transport narrative as the Metro Tunnel countdown begins.

“The new Metro Tunnel is about to open and that’s really going to lift Melbourne to a more sophisticated, cosmopolitan level,” Ms Inglis said. “We’ve got a lot of owners around the stations who’ve put up with noise and lower rents; they’re waiting for it to be open and to see values go up. We don’t have a crystal ball, but surely it will help.”

On the leasing side, MBP reports a clear return of corporate international renters and office workers wanting proximity to work while keeping amenity for hybrid days. “Historically people wanted to live in the city to be close to the office; that changed during work-from-home. Now we’re starting to see the return of that, which is good,” Ms Inglis said. “Owners with furnished, executive-level apartments have done really well and gotten the good rents.”

MBP principal Kim Davey said a “generational shift” was reshaping demand within CBD buildings.

“There’s now a big difference between the Airbnb buildings, the high-rise style product, and the hidden gems,” he said.

“Those hidden gems are rarer and more popular. The regional Monday-to-Friday owners who came up for shows have sold because of land tax and the next generation of CBD dwellers is moving in and discovering just how fantastic the city is with all its hidden gems.”

MBP’s footprint stretches across the city’s laneways and Spring St precinct, with deep ties in select buildings where body corporate relationships and long-term rent rolls generate steady referrals.

“We get a lot through good relationships – committee members referring us to neighbours,” Ms Inglis said, pointing to pockets around Guildford Lane, Anthony St and Franklin St near Queen Victoria Market. “Our rent roll is a big driver – long-term tenants can be influential in the building.”

The agency also credits its monthly back-page advertising in CBD News for connecting with passive buyers.

“We are getting so many buyers and sellers off the back page of the paper,” Ms Inglis said. “They might not be actively searching online, but they’ll see the paper in a café or lobby and call us. It has a real pulling power.”

Looking to 2026, Ms Inglis is upbeat.

“People who had to sell in the past couple of years haven’t been happy sellers. Now they’re starting to see, ‘okay, I’ve held on, I’ve paid my high owners’ corp fees, and the market should start to lift’. We’re definitely more optimistic about next year if these trends continue.”

Her message to landlords is to stay informed. “There are new rental laws coming in from November 25 – make sure you or your property manager are on top of what’s changing and be on the front foot.”

For MBP, the brief is simple: keep championing the city. “If you live the CBD, you know its energy,” Ms Inglis said. “Once people come in and experience it, they get it.”

Sean Car | 29th October, 2025

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