WeWork not a threat to real estate brokers

Commercial real estate brokers are less threatened by WeWork and the overall co-working trend than they were a year ago, but they’re even more convinced that co-working is here to stay and that the market for flex office lease space will grow in the next 10 years. That’s according to the latest Apto National Broker Buzz Poll, which was conducted during the past two weeks by commercial real estate software company Apto.

“Perhaps surprisingly, for all the attention WeWork has gotten in the past year, commercial brokers are less threatened by the growth of the co-working market than they were a year ago. I suspect this is because brokers are more comfortable with the idea of real estate as a service, and many have figured out how they can profit from the trend,” said Tanner McGraw, founder of Apto. 

According to the survey, 56 percent of respondents said that co-working is not a threat to the industry, up from 49 percent last year, while 40 percent said that the brand was somewhat of a threat, down from 44 percent last year. Only 4 percent of respondents said that it is a major threat.

In 10 years, 44 percent of survey participants expect co-working to account for 10 percent to 25 percent of the total office market, and 17 percent of participants expect co-working to make up 25 percent of the total market. 

To read more of the results, click here. ​