London Contains 75% Of The UK’s Coworking Spaces

UNITED KINGDOM – The capital contains about three-quarters of the country’s overall number of coworking spaces and also has the most expensive rental rates for such commercial properties, according to Rubberdesk’s latest UK Flexible Office Space Report.

“The size and structure of the UK Coworking and Serviced (Flex) Office can, in effect, be broken down to two separate markets Greater London and everything else. With London making up 75 percent of the available Flex Office space across the UK, it heavily skews the monthly rental rates and available space,” stated the flex marketplace operator in its report.

For instance, median rents of coworking spaces in London reached £610 per month for a workspace that can accommodate 1 to 4 persons. Excluding the capital, the median rate across the country is £275 per month.

For coworking spaces that can fit more than 50 employees, the median rent in London stands at £733 per month, while that for the rest of the nation is at £413 per month.

“With the exception of Cambridge, which has rates closer to those found in London, coworking space rents (per desk) is up to 50 percent cheaper outside London with Manchester priced at £374 per desk while the desk rate in Cardiff is £205 per month. In Scotland, a desk in a private office will set you back £332 in Glasgow, £300 in Aberdeen and £225 in Edinburgh,” wrote Rubberdesk in its report.

Excluding London, the median rent of coworking spaces across the UK has dipped by 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to £282 in Q3 2022, as more of such commercial properties started operating.

“While London has seen prices recover, rate changes across the rest of the UK have been a bit of a mixed bag. Markets such as Leeds and Newcastle have recovered and moved past the pandemic, others like Manchester & Birmingham have only seen glimpses of improvement with prices remaining well below pre-pandemic rates,” added Rubberdesk’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Jim Groves.