Melbourne added close to 850,000sqm of CBD commercial office stock over a four-year period between 1989 and 1993.
It was a time when fax machines were the key tools for communication, and interest rates were staggeringly high - reaching close to 20 per cent.
If you know your cycle history, this was in the lead up to the 1990s recession.
Most of this property was speculatively built and flogged to unsuspecting investors. It flooded the market in the early 1990s, intensifying the recession at that time.
By 1993, CBD office vacancy rates in Melbourne had reached 26%.
Agents shared stories of being unable to sell million-dollar commercial buildings at half the price.
There was a population exodus out of central Melbourne. Cafes remained empty, numerous shops and businesses went bust.
On top of it, tram worker strikes - (following the Victorian government's plan to cut costs by removing tram conductors and introducing a new scratch-ticket system) - intensified the situation further.
Within a year or so, prime median CBD office values had fallen by around 50%!