Geelong's office market has outpaced east coast rivals Newcastle and the Gold Coast to become the best-performing regional city in Australia.

Todd Devine, director of commercial services for Opteon Victoria, said A-grade office rents in Geelong were comparable to Melbourne's suburban office market. He said rents for prime-quality office accommodation in Geelong had doubled in the past eight years in line with the low vacancy rate.

"Market rents for good office accommodation are in the vicinity of $200 to $225 per square metre while new buildings will attract rentals closer to $300 per square metre," Mr Devine said.

Opteon found Geelong had the lowest vacancy rate at 5.5 per cent, ahead of Newcastle (11.5 per cent) and the Gold Coast (24 per cent).

Mr Devine said there was a flight to quality with the construction of a 6,200 sq m office building pre-committed by by Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office.

Opteon research manager, Richard Jenkins, said Geelong's central business district office market amounted to 231,249 sq m, of which, 12,721 sq m was vacant. He predicted Geelong's total office stock would outgrow Newcastle within two years.

Mining magnate Nathan Tinkler may hold the key to Newcastle's future after he acquired an 18,000 sq m development site in the town's CBD. The site has the potential to redefine the city centre and is suitable for retail, office and residential uses.

Angus Klem, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Newcastle said construction would soon begin at Mr Tinkler's other commercial development, Honeysuckle Central, which comprises 22,700 sq m of office space in five office buildings.

"The final stages of the Lee Wharf development are also likely to be spurred on by pre-committments with a forecast completion after 2013," Mr Klem said. He said a lack of new A-Grade supply should force up rents in Newcastle.

In comparison, on the Gold Coast rental growth has been reversed. Colliers International Gold Coast director Stewart Gilchrist, said the largest markets of Bundall, Southport and Robina were still grappling with massive oversupply.

"On the Gold Coast, it only takes four new and large buildings to come on stream and we're oversupplied for quite some time, meaning now is one of the most advantageous times for tenants to relocate," Mr Gilchrist said. "Rents have probably come back by around 20 per cent on their face value and incentives are now at 20 to 30 per cent."