Coworking Spaces: Demand Increase in the Philippines

Property developers are starting to get into creating coworking offices and flexible workspaces, and for good reason. 

Coworking spaces are shared workspaces. It offers affordable office space for those looking to avoid working at home or at a coffee shop. These workspaces usually offer office-like amenities, such as tables and desks to work at, private meeting rooms, and more. Occupants are usually freelancers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, or small teams that want to take advantage of the small space. 

In a recent report by JLL, it was reported that coworking spaces have slowly become one of the leading drivers of office space demand and it is a trend that is expected to continue.

The rise of start-ups and digital nomads have certainly contributed to the rise of coworking spaces. Coworking spaces answer the demand of people doing business that are in need of a space to do their work. With that in mind, it’s no surprise to see coworking spaces gaining traction as an attractive investment opportunity. 

In an interview with Rappler, Amanda Rufino-Carpo, the KMC Solutions legal counsel and co-founder, says that finding a temporary space is the first thing investors look for before “setting up shop”.

"We realized that space is something that any person doing business needs to juggle so we’re providing a smoother entry: a temporary office, a way to start whether that’s a virtual office or staff leasing or built-to-suit [space]," she said.

"We didn’t invent this business. It’s because we listened to what the client wanted," Carpo added.

Lastly, Carpo says, "I can’t say what percentage the flexible workspaces in their portfolio but all developers want a piece of it: Ayala has their own, Robinsons has their own, [and] Megaworld partnered with WeWork."