An increase in take-up of co-working spaces throughout Germany

The trend of “flexible office spaces” is gaining momentum, which reflects in the seven major cities of Germany

Interestingly, co-working is a fairly new trend in Germany, which was virtually nonexistent in 2016. Today, we see about 360,000 square meters of such offices in Germany’s major office real estate markets. According to experts, in the first three quarters of 2018 the number of flexible offices was 170,000 square meters in the seven major cities of Germany (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart), representing 6% of office areas in that period. Occupancy in Berlin stood at 20,000 square meters, 50,000 square meters in Munich and 43,000 square meters in Frankfurt.

The real difficulty is finding suitable space for renters within the “big 7” boundaries, especially for those looking for an office space of 4,000-10,000 sq.m. When it comes to Berlin, experts believe that if there was more space available occupancy would rise accordingly, since the main problem is availability rather than demand.