As 2019 draws to a close, the coworking industry continues to evolve and grow into a larger segment of the commercial real estate world. This year has been full of new insights, analysis and predictions. Let’s take a look back on the most impactful Yardi Kube publications of the year, based on readership and feedback.
Building Member Personas for Coworking Spaces
One of the most important keys to successfully marketing a coworking space is building member personas that define the characteristics of your ideal member. By using specific traits, habits, demographics and other refined categories, you can formulate the member personas you may want to target.
In this blog we reference several industry sources and marketing experts to explain how to create member personas and what questions to ask to build a strong data repository.
Colliers International Report: 2019 Flexible Workspace Outlook
Colliers International is a global real estate and investment management company. In early 2019, they released a detailed report on the flex workspace industry.
The report highlighted the rapid growth of shared workspaces, while projecting a decrease in the pace at which the industry is expanding over the next five years. Colliers also found a strong correlation between coworking popularity in cities with high-wage, tech markets. The full report is linked in our summary.
eBook: Converting Vacancies to Coworking Space
With the landscape of coworking changing, more landlords and property managers are getting involved in the industry. Taking a vacant space and repurposing it as a coworking space is a more popular option than ever. In this five-part eBook, we dive into the following topics:
Property location – How do you determine the best market with the highest demand for coworking?
The ideal space – What are the factors that make up the best vacancy and what are deal breakers?
Comparing vacancies – Are retail locations an option? What are the pros and cons to high floor vs. low floor? Is Class A office space a must?
Coworking vs. traditional tenants – What are the benefits of a coworking space and how do you minimize risk?
Financial investment – How do different financing models compare? A comparison of do-it-yourself, partnership and outsourcing.
Deskmag 2019 Coworking Survey Results
Each year, the Deskmag global coworking survey provides insight directly from operators and members of spaces. This year the results showed jumps in overall coworking usage by both members and total number of spaces, which continues an ongoing trend.
The average number of members per space rose to about 90 worldwide, and 96 in North America. The average size of a coworking space actually dropped about 9% globally, to 7,804 square feet. Beyond the raw numbers, the survey also provides useful analysis of the state of business and projecting the outlook for the coworking industry.
Marketing Strategy for Growing Coworking Spaces
In this blog, we analyzed ways operators can maximize and continue to grow profits with a breakdown of a successful marketing strategies. Some of the tips include hosting a variety of events, membership bonuses, health and wellness benefits and content marketing.
How Local Coworking Operators Can Beat Big Name Brands
There are countless multi-space operators throughout the U.S and globally, but Regus and WeWork are the most recognizable brands with the most members. Even with major competition, local operators can see their members and profits increase by adopting smart business strategies.
Learn how differentiating the space, enhancing a sense of community and providing unique service offerings can help smaller operators stand out.
Yardi Matrix report: Coworking’s Rapid Growth to be Tested
In November, Yardi Matrix analyzed the top 50 metro U.S. markets, their most in-depth study of the coworking industry to date. Some of their biggest takeaways included:
- Continued coworking growth: The study found 93.2 million square feet of coworking space, representing 1.7% of total office space. Manhattan, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle added the most space since 2018.
- Expansion in suburban areas: Suburbs represent over 30 million square feet of the total space in the report, about 1% of total office stock in those areas.
- Evolving business models: Trends include landlords filling vacancies with coworking and real estate giants like CBRE starting their own shared workspace concepts.
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2020 will surely bring more exciting change and growth for the coworking industry as well as for the Yardi Kube brand. We look forward to updating you on all things coworking in the year ahead. To learn more about the Yardi Kube platform, please click the link below.