According to Knight Frank's head of institutional sales James Parry there is unprecedented demand for secondary markets.

Mr Parry, an adviser on the sale of the Edgecliff Centre in Sydney's inner east with JLL, which was bought by the private Longhurst Group for $138 million, said he expected the demand to continue.

Colliers International also sold 333 Kent Street to a Chinese-based group Bridge Capital for $88.88 million.

"The demand for secondary markets is driven by the low cash rate at 1.5 per cent – the lowest in our history – as well as improvements in leasing fundamentals and rental growth," Mr Parry said.

"Investors are willing to pay more as rents are going to rise. This is evidenced by the recent sale of 28 O'Connell Street for a record price of $14,896 per square metre. With the cost of debt, accelerated rental growth and lack of investment opportunities, we expect most sales over the next 12 to 24 months will continue to break records."

He said a distinct lack of stock and improved leasing fundamentals will ensure the market remains tight. CBD assets expected to be traded over the next 12 months include 55 Clarence Street, 362 Kent Street, 66 Goulburn Street and 92 Pitt Street.

JLL's preliminary figures for commercial property investment volumes at the third-quarter mark, although preliminary, reveal lower volumes than the record years of 2015 and 2014. It is a symptom of less product as opposed to less capital targeting Australian commercial real estate.

The firm's preliminary figures show commercial property markets recorded $18.1 billion of sales, of properties worth more than $5 million individually, across the office, retail and industrial sectors over the first nine months of 2016. This figure is lower than the $22.4 billion of transactions finalised in the first nine months of 2015, reflecting a lowering of supply.

National investment volumes over the 2014 and 2015 calendar years were   $31 billion in 2014 and $33 billion in 2015.

JLL's head of office investments, Australia, Rob Sewell said the lower transaction volumes this year were not a symptom of reduced interest, investor demand remained strong.

"We witnessed an unprecedented level of competition for this boutique B-grade building from domestic and international investors, resulting in 30 written offers. This sale is understood to have set a very strong pricing benchmark for the Sydney CBD.  This sale process demonstrates that investors are willing to assess a variety of asset grades to buy in the current market," he said.

When product becomes available, JLL has recorded high levels of investor interest, while the number of bids is higher than received on comparable campaigns in 2007.

Mr Sewell said a number of key factors were contributing to investment activity levels for the final quarter of 2016 and into 2017.

These include tightening vacancy and positive effective rental growth, which provides the catalyst for the next asset creation cycle in Sydney, Melbourne and a number of suburban office markets.

"New development activity will generate fund-through opportunities for investors to gain exposure to core income-producing assets and support increased investment activity in 2017," he said.