The introduction of serviced offices to the commercial real estate industry has taken the world by storm and numerous entrepreneurs saw the potential that becoming serviced office providers offered. This resulted in the boom of serviced office centres offering rental space around the world, resulting in a highly competitive market. Currently there are around 2400 serviced office providers around the world, which means that there are considerably more office centres and workstations available for rent. So how are these providers and their centres stationed around the world?
First let’s look at what serviced office providers are and what they offer. These are independently owned companies who own or rent commercial real estate and operate serviced office business centres from this space. Serviced offices are flexible all-in-one office solutions that can be rented on a short term and long term basis and for use by a single person or large business. With 5500 serviced office centres in operation around the world, this means that each provider operates an average of 2.4 centres.
So who are the top competitors when it comes to serviced office providers? Regus is the top provider globally, operating more than 1100 serviced office centres in 88 countries. Which means if you research offices to let in London it may well be leased by Regus, yet offices to let in Leeds may be leased by another company. The number of centres that Regus operates has increased by 59% since 2005, yet they currently operate only 20% of the overall number of centres globally.
The only major contender that Regus faces is the provider Servcorp which operates over 100 serviced office centres in more than 21 countries. While Servcorp has increased its number of centres by 308% since 2005, it still controls under 2% of the total market.As we can see from this there are just two main serviced office providers who control centres globally. However, there is a great number of providers who control large shares of serviced office centres on a city, regional or country basis. Within their area they are incredibly well known yet on a larger or international scale they may be completely unknown. While a number of these companies are listed in the top 10 list of serviced office providers, there are more than 60 of these who control 10 or more centres in their portfolio of serviced offices to rent, making up 43% of the global market.
The providers who make up the remaining 57% of the market have between 1 and 9 serviced office centres in their portfolio, most of which cater to a niche market within the serviced office market. For example, offices to let Sheffield are outside of London’s city centre and may not be leased by the same bigger names in the UK. Then again smaller providers may operate more exclusive centres which cater to a more elite market.
As we see there are few large serviced office providers who lease office space globally, yet in more localised settings the number of providers suddenly skyrockets. With great demand for this flexible service, it is no wonder that there are so many serviced office providers around the world.
About the Author
Sally Roberts is a freelance writer whose interest lies prominently in the business and real estate industries.