Coworking spaces surge post-pandemic
Offices that once sat empty are now coming to life again with vacancy rates dropping by 5.2 per cent in the first three months of 2022.
Tuesday, 12th April 2022 | Press
Offices that once sat empty are now coming to life again with vacancy rates dropping by 5.2 per cent in the first three months of this year.
Further figures from online flex space platform Rubberdesk reveal prices of leasing a co-working space have dropped slightly by 0.2 per cent to $608 per person, per month.
Businesses dealing with pandemic-induced changes are now entering co-working spaces, namely because these spaces offer shorter lease terms than commercial offices, said Jim Groves, co-founder of Rubberdesk.
“I think what we’re seeing is a new breed of tenants coming to the market, who have been in traditional leased offices and their leases are coming to an end or came to an end during the pandemic,” he said.
“They are in a period of flux where their business has evolved or is changing, and their requirements for space are changing so they’re looking for flexible office space to solve that problem. Their business may be going through a period of uncertainty and they aren’t sure what the requirements are for returning workforce, so the advantage of flex is the term is one year in duration.”
Sydney is the most expensive city to lease a co-working space at $667 per person, per month, followed by Melbourne at $631, Western Australian at $600, South Australia at $567, Queensland at $557 and the ACT at $489.
The March 2022 Australian Flexible Office Space Report also shows while some co-working spaces closed because of the impacts of COVID, many were due to open this year and into 2023.
In Melbourne, Creative Cubes opens in Carlton with plans to expand into Collingwood, Hub Australia opens in St Kilda with plans for a new Richmond location, and Spaces and The Commons opened in Collingwood.
In Sydney, WorkClub opened at 200 George Street, The Commons will open two new centres and The Executive Centre will open a new centre at Angel Place.
The challenge for co-working operators will be to serve up amenities that make it worthwhile for workers to commute from the comfort of their home offices, said Groves.
“We need to justify why we are asking them to travel now,” he said.
“Yes, there’s the collaboration and getting people to together and being more productive, but we also need to put them somewhere where they feel valued and they can flourish.
“So availability of breakout spaces where you can go and have a chat with a colleague, the ability to step out and have a private conversation. Those are the things you enjoy at home, which you don’t really want to sacrifice by going into the office.”
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