Coworking market size in different cities in Europe 2018

How big is the coworking market in Europe? In 2018, the share of flexible workspaces made up more than 20 percent of all office take-up in Stockholm, Brussels and London's West End. Some of the cities in this ranking with a relatively high share, however, do not necessarily have a high rental price for prime office properties. Local supply, and a possible lack thereof, seems to be the main driver so far behind the current flex concepts.

What is a “flexible workspace” in the first place?

Coworking is a collection of all kinds of different offices. Flexible workspace can vary from a conventional office space to a subscription to shared places and utilities. Commonly speaking, coworking stands for property that is flexible (with contracts that can be ended on a monthly basis), furnished and available in any size (one person can rent a space). Other factors include certain extras (shared services, like a reception, lunch area or meeting room), the potential of using multiple workspaces and an own identity (the operator of the workspace having its own branding and design). Because of all these different things and concepts that coworking operators offer, one can already see large differences between coworking space companies in, for example, the Netherlands.

How many coworking spaces are there in the world?

At the end of 2018, there were around 18,700 coworking spaces worldwide. These numbers increase rapidly, however. In 2019 already, more than 11,000 flexible workspaces could be found in the Asia-Pacific region. According to a forecast made in the same year, the number of people working a coworking space is believed to reach nearly 2.7 million people by 2020.