The Real Cost of Job Vacancy to Your Business

December 2, 2025

In South Australia’s competitive property sector, being quick to hire is no longer a luxury - it’s a necessity.

With demand for talent outpacing supply in key roles, businesses that delay or struggle to fill vacancies are paying a steep price: in lost productivity, client service gaps, team burnout, and missed growth opportunities.

According to our 2025 Employment and Salary Trends Report, extended vacancies are more than just an operational hiccup, they’re a business risk.

Here, we’re exploring the real cost of vacancy and highlighting the roles most businesses are struggling to fill across the SA market.

How prolonged vacancies can hold teams back

Unfilled roles in property and real estate agencies create ripple effects that go far beyond just empty desks. Here’s what we see affected by prolonged vacancies:

Productivity – When key positions sit vacant, the workload doesn't disappear, it’s absorbed by existing staff. This can lead to inefficiencies, mistakes, and burnout.
Client service – With fewer hands on deck, response times slip and service standards fall below expectations, risking strained relationships.
Growth – New business opportunities are missed when there’s no capacity to take them on, or when existing teams are too stretched to deliver.
Staff turnover – The longer a role stays vacant, the more pressure builds on your current team, making them more likely to look elsewhere.

Which roles are hardest to fill in SA?

Not all vacancies are created equal. Some roles are consistently proving harder to fill than others, often due to a lack of specialised talent, burnout-driven turnover, or increased competition from interstate.

Here’s what our 2025 Employment and Salary Trends Report reveals are the hardest roles to fill:

Role	% of Teams Struggling to Fill
Commercial Property Manager	23%
Residential Property Manager	20%
Facilities/Operations Manager	15%
Capital Works/Project Roles	9%
Property Accountant	6%
Strata Manager	6%

The roles with the highest vacancy pressure - property managers and facilities managers - are also those that are critical to day-to-day operations. Delays in filling these roles create immediate strain on team performance and client outcomes.

Vacancy timeframes: How long is too long?

While the average time to hire varies by role, anything over 4–6 weeks for core operational positions can begin to impact your business. Unfortunately, in SA’s property sector, many businesses are reporting vacancy durations closer to 8–12 weeks.

The longer a vacancy remains open:

The harder it becomes to maintain service levels
The more expensive it is to recover from the downstream effects
The greater the risk of further turnover from overburdened team members

Strategies to reduce vacancy impact

If your business is feeling the pinch from open roles, here are a few tactics to reduce the cost and risk of vacancies:

Streamline your hiring process – Long hiring timelines are a major contributor to vacancy impact. Move fast, be decisive, and minimise delays between interviews and offers. Have a clear process, list of decision makers and a timeline defines before you start the hiring process.
Offer competitive packages – Salary benchmarking is key (see our recent blog about this), but benefits like flexibility, bonuses, and professional development can tip the scales.
Engage temporary or contract talent – Interim placements can keep operations moving while you search for permanent hires. Edge Recruitment can help with this – we have a highly experienced team of temps specialising in real estate, property and general administration ready to start whenever you need. Many of our temps make ideal permanent employees once they gain experience in your business, making recruitment even easier.
Partner with a specialist recruiter – A recruiter who knows the local market can help you access pre-vetted talent faster and avoid costly mis-hires. We have been connecting the best people in property in South Australia since 1998. Focusing our business on property, real estate and administration has cemented our reputation as specialists in these industries.

In a market where property talent is scarce, vacancy costs are real — and rising. For South Australian businesses looking to grow, evolve, and deliver standout service, reducing the time to hire is no longer optional, it’s critical.