Rising Rents, Increased Headcounts and Need For Flexibility Are Key to Growth in Coworking

ATLANTA, April 24, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Look across your desk to your coworker, and the chances are increasing that that person may not even work for the same company as you do.

Over the next several years, office workers may soon find themselves working with people from other companies, linked together only by a concept known as coworking.

A recent survey conducted by CoreNet Global and Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) found that as property costs and lease lengths are important factors for corporate real estate executives, many are turning to flexible and efficient workspaces, such as a coworking environment, where space – and costs – can be shared.

In the survey of 176 corporate real estate professionals:

• Ninety-six percent want to use space more efficiently by offering flexible working practices
• Eighty-nine percent want to invest in technology to enable more flexible work locations
• Fifty-eight percent want to consolidate and have a smaller number of larger real estate units.
• Fifty-nine percent want to lease short term space
• Fifty-four percent want to lease space now from coworking operators

"Coworking practices are gaining momentum," said Sigrid G. Zialcita, C&W's Managing Director, Research & Investment Strategy, Asia Pacific. "It is fast becoming a part of the corporate culture at many organizations."

Zialcita said coworking is a global trend, most notably in Asia, where it accounted for five million square feet of space in 2016. Coworking supply has doubled in Washington D.C. in the last 5 years. One-third of coworking space in the UK is in London, which grew 16% in 2016.

One of the key players in the market, WeWork, now is the largest occupier of corporate real estate space in New York City, and has plans to grow heavily throughout Asia.

"Connectivity means that working from a specific office location every day is not critical," said Tim Venable, Senior Vice President at CoreNet Global. "And, workers crave flexibility. Combine those factors with the fact that corporate real estate executives want to both save money and support the way that staff prefers to work, and co-working locations offer both sides enormous benefits."

SOURCE CoreNet Global