Close to a quarter of a milion square metres of flex space came into the market in Poland in just four years

According to the latest report from Workthere.pl, Savills flexible office specialist, since 2018 flex providers have delivered over 239,000 sq m of new office space in 114 buildings, accounting for 75% of Poland’s total coworking and serviced office stock.

The total office stock offered by Polish and international providers as flexible workspace currently comprises more than 320,500 sq m, over half of which (178,000 sq m) is in Warsaw. However, the largest share of office stock that is flexible is in Krakow, which has 47,100 sq m, equating to 2.9%, says Savills. Wrocław is third with 2.7% of flexible office space (36,100 sq m). Another major city is Łódź, which – despite being a smaller office market – has 16,700 sq m of flex space, making up 2.6% of its total office stock.

The strongest flexible office leasing activity in the first three quarters of 2022 was in Warsaw, which reported 11 deals for a combined area of close to 25,000 sq m, representing an almost threefold increase in take-up in the nine months to September 2022 compared to last year’s total. According to Workthere’s latest report, it was still below the peak level of 2018 although this year’s total take-up is expected to be close to the second best result recorded in 2019, which witnessed over 33,400 sq m transacted.

“In the first three quarters of 2022, flex office take-up accounted for 4% of Warsaw’s office take-up, well above the figures seen in 2020-2021. This was broadly in line with trends in Western Europe. Flexible office demand is expected to make up 5% of Europe’s total office take-up in 2023 and 6% in 2024. Looking ahead, flexible office stock is likely to reach around 20% of total office stock across the continent,” comments Thomas Jodar, Associate Director, Savills, Workthere Project Lead Poland.

The five largest flex providers account for 42% of Poland’s total flexible office stock. Regus is the clear market leader with over 20 serviced office locations across the country, followed by CitySpace with 12 and Loftmill with eight. Adgar, which operates seven Brain Embassy locations, comes fourth just ahead of WeWork with approximately 31,800 sq m in five locations.

According to Workthere, using data from Savills analysts, fees per desk in serviced or coworking offices average EUR 380 per month in Warsaw, ranging between EUR 260 and EUR 340 in regional cities. Given the strong demand for serviced offices, coupled with high inflation and rising energy prices pushing service charges up, Savills anticipates that operators will soon have to increase fees to maintain business profitability.

“Flex occupancy rates reached 85% in Warsaw in recent months and as high as over 90% in central locations. In 2022, key providers in the capital signed agreements for a total of over 950 desks. Coworking clients are increasingly reporting requirements for more than 50 desks. November alone witnessed over 20 such deals, some for more than 100 desks. This is a notable trend in Warsaw, but regional cities are also experiencing larger deal sizes. Coworking space mostly attracts tech companies, especially suppliers of cloud-based solutions, software and game developers,” adds Thomas Jodar, Associate Director, Savills, Workthere Project Lead Poland.