U.S. Market For Flexible Space Is World's Largest; Locations Grew 50 Percent In Size, According To The Instant Group's U.S. Market Summary: The Pioneers and the Pathfinders

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Oct 29, 2019, 10:47 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Instant Group (Instant), a global flexible workspace specialist helping clients procure and manage their offices in more than 2,280 cities across 153 countries, has released its U.S. Market Summary: The Pioneers and the Pathfinders, reporting on Instant's findings on the growth of flexible workspace across the U.S. As the flexible workspace industry responds to key opportunities in how work is changing, The Instant Group examines the new players coming into the space; the trends of demand, supply, and occupation; and types and growth statistics in key states. Instant's report is founded on the oldest and largest set of data in the market, taking a 20-year sector view and covering more centers in more locations than any other firm.

Key findings include:

The U.S. market for flexible space is now the largest in the world, despite being less than 1 percent of total office space across the entire U.S. market. Growth is in large part due to openings in secondary and tertiary markets and new players such as franchising and landlords coming into the market. If rural and smaller-town growth continues at the same rate we see, we can expect more than 10,000 flex locations by 2023, making the U.S., by far, the largest flex market in the world.

Contrary to widespread belief, the market is diversifying, not consolidating: Despite large amounts of news coverage on a handful of leading flexible workspace providers, the industry remains highly fragmented and complex, thanks to the entrepreneurial nature of many providers. The 10 largest operators now make up 36 percent of the market in the U.S., which is less market share than they had in the prior 12 months.

Flexible offices grow by 50 percent based on size of centers opened in 2019.

Consulting firms overtake tech and finance in flex by the highest volume of deals closed for flexible space.

Legal industry muscles into flex: 2019 saw the entry of legal firms in flex, compared to their virtual nonexistence in 2018.

End-users willing to pay up once they're in space: Instant's research shows that 57 percent of end-users pay for additional services once they are in a flexible space.

Franchising begins: As a play to quickly put locations in secondary and smaller markets across the U.S., some operators, such as Venture X, Serendipity Labs, and Office Evolution, have now established franchise models.
State by State: From Q1 2018 to Q1 2019, Georgia, specifically in Atlanta, and the District of Columbia have seen the highest growth of new centers, increasing 15% each. Supply in Ohio grew 13%, up to 126 centers. California has the most number of centers in the US with 1,100 centers.

For The Instant Group's full report, please visit
https://www.theinstantgroup.com/media/2135/us_market_summary_2019.pdf.

About The Instant Group

The Instant Group is a workspace innovation company that rethinks workspace on behalf of its clients, placing more than 11,000 companies a year in flexible workspace such as serviced, managed or co-working offices. Its listings' platform www.instantoffices.com hosts more than 14,000 flexible workspace centers across the world and is the only site of its kind to represent the global market, providing a service to FTSE 100, Fortune 500, and SME clients. www.theinstantgroup.com

SOURCE The Instant Group