Flexible office rents tumble as London boom fuels more spaces

Fresh evidence of a boom in the capital’s flexible workspace market has come to light with a report out today that shows a sharp rise in new spaces coming to the market.

Growing demand for shorter leases led to more than 150 new flexible office space business centres opening in Central London during 2018, marking a 42 per cent year-on-year increase.

The report also found that prices for flexible spaces have tumbled across much of London amid the rising competition from workspace providers.

Prices In Knightsbridge, which are still amongst the highest in Central London, dropped by 38 per cent between 2014 and 2018.

Mayfair & St James’s (£896) and Knightsbridge (£895) have the highest average workstation rates over the last five years.

Over the last two years, office prices in Hammersmith have fallen by 29 per cent, whilst Paddington is 32 per cent cheaper as a direct result of greater flexible space availability.

Read more: Co-working startup Knotel shrugs off Brexit with three new London offices

"Flexible workspaces are booming and we are seeing more and more large corporates, such as Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft embracing the benefits that flexible workspaces bring. Savvy businesses, large and small, can easily look at the average workstation rates and see where they can make substantial savings," according to Richard Smith, chief executive of Office Freedom

Smith added: "There are market uncertainties due to Brexit, but businesses increasingly want to be able to react whatever conditions they face. Flexible workspaces allow businesses to scale up or down on demand and only pay for the space they need."