Workthere: Demand for suburban flexible office space soars across Europe

Data from Workthere’s most recent sentiment survey shows that demand for suburban flexible office space is now the top source of demand across Europe, as employers look to accommodate their workers closer to home.

The findings show that 28% of flexible office providers surveyed said that they were seeing highest demand from companies looking at suburban flexible office space, with Ireland (56%) and Germany (33%) leading the way. This figure is supported by the global figure which shows 33% of providers are seeing demand for out of town workspaces. Outside of Europe, demand is highest in the US (43%) and Singapore (40%).

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The trend towards more suburban office space is compounded by the fact that 24% of providers surveyed across Europe have seen companies downsizing their lease – the figure is especially high in Spain where providers are seeing 40% of companies looking to downsize. This is coupled with the fact that 10% of providers are seeing demand for space from corporates – this figure is slightly higher in the UK and Ireland (11% respectively) suggesting a small head start in the trend.

Ed Bouterse, Head of Workthere in Europe, commented:

It is universally recognised that 2020 has been a year of twists and turns for companies across the globe. With many employees still working from home, employers are looking at a myriad of solutions to enable some sort of return to normality. In many cases, taking flexible office space outside of town and city centres enables them to house their staff without committing to long-term leases and simultaneously giving their employees the chance to work closer to home, therefore maintaining a healthy work/life balance.

The level of demand from corporates indicates that the flexible office sector is becoming more and more diversified and, as a result, reinforcing its clout in the wider real estate sector.

Building on this, the research shows that enquiries are also back up to 60% of normal levels. This is compared to 46% in July and 16% in April and is in spite of the fact that uncertainty has increased, with 35% of providers undecided about their expectations for the next three months (compared to 31% in July and 34% in April).

The survey shows that expected occupancy levels at the end of November have increased to 71%, from a 68% level expected at the end of August when the survey was carried out in July.

Jessica Alderson, global research analyst, Workthere, added:

Despite levels of uncertainty, we are seeing a healthy number of enquiries for flexible office space showing that companies are prioritising a nimble approach to their workspaces. Although predicting anything in the immediate term is proving tricky this year, we are confident that the indicated rise in occupancy level expectations is a positive sign for the sector as we move towards the end of the year.

Take a look at how sentiment has changed since April here.

View the summary of our global results here and take a look at the comparison of sentiment across the different regions here.