Flex offices represent 15% of office occupancy in Porto

There are indeed positive signs of recovery in the flexible office market, in Western Europe. According to the international report Further Signs of Recovery in the EMEA Flex Office Market, developed by real estate consultancy CBRE, companies are returning to their offices and those looking for short-term solutions are finding an answer to their needs in flexible spaces.

In fact, according to the report, there are still several opportunities for growth and expansion of flexible office operators in the European market: a growth is expected already in the second half of 2022.

In the last five years, Cristina Arouca, Director of Research and Data Intelligence at CBRE Portugal, refers that "flexible office operators represented 7% and 3% of office occupancy in Lisbon and Porto respectively". In the first half of this year, "the same indicator increases to 11% in Lisbon and 15% in the Oporto region, which proves the appetite of the operators and the dynamism that our cities imprint", she indicates.

André Almada, Director of A&T Offices, referring that CBRE has been specializing in this segment, recalls that "recently, CBRE advised We Work in the opening of its first space in Portugal, in a 5,800 square meters operation in downtown Lisbon and also placed the first space of the Spaces brand in the Porto region, namely 4,500 square meters in Matosinhos. These are just two of the reference operations in this sector, which currently shows no signs of slowing down".

Cristina Arouca also added that "in addition to international operators such as Factory, Regus, Spaces or We Work, we have verified the development and growth of several national companies such as Golden Hub, Heden, IdeaHub, LEAP, Maleo, among others, which already have a consolidated offer in the city of Lisbon".