A survey of Macquarie Equities Research shows hiring and recruitment in the financial services industry will boost demand in office space.

The survey of 24 recruitment consultants shows increased hiring over the past six months in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Hiring activities were expected to surge even more in the next 12 months according to 92 percent of respondents in Sydney and 83 percent in Melbourne.

According to Macquarie's listed trust analyst Paul Checcin, the volume of vacancies for accounting jobs advertised in Australian capital cities increased 19.2 percent within the January to July period.

Checcin said, “We expect eight and seven percent rental growth in Sydney and Melbourne respectively in 2011 on the back of a reduction in incentives as vacancy rates fall.”

The availability of qualified employees is also expected to drop as the competition among public and private sector companies tightens up.

Kathy Kostyrko, Public Sector Director of recruitment firm Hays, said, “opportunities in the commercial sector continue to rise and private sector employers are very aware of the growing need for skills. They are becoming far more competitive in their offers to secure candidates with not just commercial experience, but public sector backgrounds too.”

Director Grahame Doyle of Hays Accountancy and Finance also said earlier this month, “since Christmas 2009 employers have been repopulating their headcount to pre-GFC levels and now that they’re staffed appropriately they’re turning their attention to reinvesting in future leaders.”