Prior to COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for coworking space was increasing. According to Rowena Natividad, research shows that flexible working is on the rise even prior to the new normal. Organizations were considering to decentralize their work force to reduce commute and help their employees to work closer from home. However because of the uncertainty of today’s situation, Michael McCullough foresees that demand is going to become a cautious demand given that the new normal is unknown for the moment.

In a report published by FlySpaces this April 2020, a number of tenants approached them seeking advice on how to shift their requirements from conventional office space towards flexible office space. The demand is seen from tenants that have not previously considered flexible solutions and are now exploring this opportunity for their non-core departments, BCP (business continuity planning) and work from home solutions. According to the report, the trend among developers across Asia opening their own flexible solution brand will quickly accelerate as a result of the crisis. This opportunity is predicted to bring additional capacity to the market but at a much competitive price which will greatly impact small operators.

McCullough also shared that being pro-active as well as transparency and honesty across all parts of the ecosystem helped KMC to effectively approach the COVID-19 pandemic. He also mentioned some important lessons brought by this crisis:

• No rule book for this type of scenario regardless of training or planning
• It is important to have a good team
• Workspace capacity will change, social distancing is here to stay

Despite the unpredictability of the new normal, the panelist all agreed and are optimistic about the opportunities in flexible work solution. Mario Berta shared his thoughts on how he sees the future of flexible office spaces in which he mentioned three main trends in the market:

1. Increase number of tenants will switch to flexible due to the current uncertainty and the risk of long term investments.
2. Tremendous amount of landlords will find themselves in economic downturn, more idle inventory into their office space will push them to start operating their own brand of flexible office space.
3. A number of smaller operator will face financial issues allowing the bigger ones in the same market to gain market share.

Natividad added that as there may be a possibility that employees might resort to just work from their home, not all have the capability to do so, given the limited resources such as stable internet connection that coworking spaces can provide. Also, most organizations still want the professional setup for their employees.

Definitely, the real estate industry will be facing a lot of changes along with other industries, as the world moves forward to the new normal. And like what Berta said, “The biggest issue now is uncertainty, the world will never go back to 1.5 billion tourist traveling across the world overnight. There will still be a lot of fear. But during bad times, developers, brokers, tenants they are more on the look out for the next best solution.”

For now, the key is to keep connected and support each other as we are learning everyday in this very unique challenges were now in.