Co-working spaces supply to grow in next 3 yrs – Colliers

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila’s co-working spaces supply is seen to grow by 30 percent in the next three years, driven by the strong millennial workforce, a real estate services firm said. 

“Colliers expects supply of these co-working spaces to grow by 10 percent annually in the next three years, spurred by a millennial-dominated labor force and a growing community of startups,” Colliers International said in a report.

Co-working spaces is a type of flexible workspace which offers tenants to share a particular work environment, which encourages collaboration with one another.

In a briefing Tuesday, Colliers International Philippines senior manager for research Randwil Dinbo Macaranas said the co-working sector has the least amount of supply compared to other types of flexible workspaces.

“Developers want to take advantage of this growing sector. Co-working only comprises five percent of the total pie,” Macaranas said.

As of the end of 2016, the total stock of flexible workspaces in Metro Manila has reached an estimated 228,000 square meters.

Macaranas said the co-working spaces segment offers a lot of opportunities since it is still in its early stage in the country.

He added developers should take advantage of this emerging trend, by dedicating co-working spaces in their buildings, which could serve as incubators for small startup companies.

“The high likelihood that these startup companies will eventually lease spaces in buildings owned by the same developer when they do grow, is an encouraging incentive for developers,” Colliers said.

Moreover, Collliers recommends flexible workspace operators to partner with developers in putting up co-working spaces.

“Colliers suggests that operators can consider buying office spaces and converting them to flexible workspaces or a more feasible strategy would be for operators to partner with developers through a revenue-sharing or fee-based arrangement on coworking spaces,” the real estate services firm noted.