When pundits rhapsodise about commercial innovation, they generally have the tech industries in mind. But as long as there is free commerce, innovation exists in every industry, including real estate.

To wit, the trend of “shared office space”, also called “co-working” or “flexible office space”, is sweeping across Asia Pacific, and has and will have short- and long-term ramifications for tenants, property owners, developers, investors and lenders.

Even those with but a passing interest in Asia Pacific’s commercial office space are by now aware of the burgeoning ranks of shared-space purveyors, such as Ucommune, WeWork Cos, Regus, and a rash of smaller or regional players.

So, one trend meets another: Asia Pacific is also defined by ongoing urbanisation — the classic shift of national economies from agricultural to manufacturing, and then to services — resulting in huge population clusters and the archetype megalopolis. Soaring population densi