Cheaper parking fees and free public transport on Mondays and Fridays ought to be introduced in the ACT in a bid to attract workers back to the office, the Property Council says.
The industry group has made the proposal in an election platform it wants parties vying for seats in the Legislative Assembly to adopt.
The Property Council has repeatedly called for the government to call its public servants back into town centre offices at least three days a week.
Now it wants incentives to get staff into the city at the beginning and end of the week, times when many now choose to work from home.
"The CBD is the engine of our economy, with the greatest concentration of jobs, education and social infrastructure," the council said.
"But that engine has been running in low-gear since the pandemic. Office vacancy rates continue to increase, impacting the vibrancy of the city centre."
The council outlined the commitments it was seeking in five broad policy areas, including streamlining development approvals, prioritising the central business district and changes to the lease variation charge system.
Property Council ACT executive director Gino Luglietti said Canberra needed faster, smarter and more strategic planning to meet the needs of a fast-growing population.
"Tomorrow's Canberra depends on the success of property, development and the built environment, which accounts for $4.5 billion of our economic activity," Mr Luglietti said.
"With the ACT expecting an almost 60 per cent increase in population to 784,000 by 2060, we owe it to future generations to put the right foundations in place."
The council also wants territory political parties to commit to a taskforce to fast-track CBD development and permit greater flexibility for commercial properties to change lease purpose clauses on the ground floor.
Lease variation charges should also be scrapped when developers seek to convert commercial buildings in the city centre into residential and build-to-rent sites.
The next ACT government should also consider remissions on lease variation charges to incentivise beneficial development, and commit to reinvesting lease variation charges back into surrounding community infrastructure needs.
The council also wants commercial rates to be capped to the consumer price index and discounts on rates for ground floor commercial tenancies.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has been a strong proponent of flexible working arrangements, saying in 2021 the era of in-office 9-to-5 work was over for his government's public servants. "The way we will attract and retain the highest quality staff is to have flexibility in working arrangements. We will never go back to 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, everyone in the same office all together. That world is over. It is over, it is done," he said at the time.
The Canberra office vacancy rate was sitting at 9.5 per cent in July, compared with 8.3 per cent in January, the Property Council has said.
The council's office market report showed vacancies in Canberra offices rose 1.2 per cent between February and July.
