There are fears Melbourne’s CBD is becoming a ghost town, with rising rates of building vacancies.

Nerida Conisbee, who is Chief Economist at REA group – a global digital business that specialises in the property market – told Neil Mitchell the City of Melbourne had a problem.

“We have almost 12,000 vacant apartments now,” she said.

“I know a lot of people who work in the commercial property industry are bracing themselves for very big increases in the vacancy rate.

“It’s a big challenge, if you have a look at what has happened from this prolonged shutdown, the big impact has been on the CBD.”

Ms Conisbee said a lot needed to be done to get Melbourne back on track and to bring back activity to the CBD.

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