RPT-Australia office vacancies fall for first time in 3 yrs

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SYDNEY Feb 3 (Reuters) - Australia's office vacancy rate fell for the first time in three years in January, driven by thin supply and rising demand, but the recovery will be subdued due to uncertain global economies, the Australian Property Council said on Thursday.

The office vacancy rate dropped to 9.5 percent in January, from 10 percent in July last year. The rate had been steadily climbing since January 2008, when vacancies fell to 3.9 percent.

In the central business districts (CBDs), empty offices also slipped to 8.6 percent in January from 9 percent in July 2010.

Adam Learmonth, director for real estate investment advisory firm Anvil Capital, said the office market had rebounded sooner that he expected, but the recovery would be relatively muted.

"Tenant demand can be fickle in these uncertain times. So a lot of it is going to depend on the global economic environment over the next 12 months," he said.

In Sydney's CBD, office vacancies tightened to 8.2 percent from 8.5 percent between July 2010 and January with some premium offices seeing the vacany rate fall to 3.1 percent, the lowest in more than a decade.

The vacancy rate in the Melbourne CBD office market fell to 6.3 percent from 6.5 percent, while the rate for Perth's CBD fell to 9.5 percent from 9.9 percent. (Reporting by Eriko Amaha; Editing by Mark Bendeich)