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Coworking is certainly the talk of the town, it’s trendy, it’s fashionable, it’s cool, it’s modern and this makes sense for the corporate, the freelancers, the creative intellectuals and several other millennial professionals. 2018 Global Coworking Survey has been conducted by Deskmag, the popular coworking magazine and the results are out. This is one of the trusted surveys in the coworking industry and in 2018, 1980 people participated in the survey over a course of just 3 months.

Coworking is undeniably witnessing a rapid expansion and is also undergoing a huge evolution as well as adaptation in order to stay relevant and great-going as per the needs and expectations of the current as well as future members. This survey which is conducted every year is one of the most followed surveys in the coworking industry which reports the developments and predicts the probable progression and innovation in the booming coworking industry. Here are some of the facts which are being revealed in the 2018 Global Coworking Survey that talks about the trendsetter phenomenon in the growing coworking industry.

Fact 1 – Total number of coworking spaces

We are sure that these figures would not be much surprising for you considering the immense popularity and massive growth of the coworking spaces. The number of coworking spaces is increasing rapidly. In the year 2015, there were a total of 8,500 coworking spaces operating across the globe which increased to 12,100 in 2016, 15,500 in 2017 and in 2018 the total number of coworking spaces operating is a whopping 18,900. So in three years time, the number of coworking spaces has become more than double.

After this mind-blowing figure, it’s time to have a look at the total number of coworking space members. The total number of coworking members has tripled within this same time frame of 3 years. In 2015, there was 545,000 members which has grown to 890,000 in 2016, 1,270,000 in 2017 and in 2018 the figure is 1,690,000.

So, the above figures very easily determine that something big is happening in the world of coworking.

Fact 2 – Loyalty of members

The loyalty of coworking members has witnessed a considerable rise in 2018 after 2017. The millennials weren’t completely ready to settle down in 2017, commitment seemed to be too much for them at that particular point of time in their lives. They preferred to keep their options open and they wanted that desired freedom to find even better options available to them. But in the year 2018, we have witnessed comparatively more commitment and the coworking professionals were committed to building something more long-lasting. As revealed in the survey, the member loyalty parameter amongst the coworkers has risen back up to 66% which was 62% in the year 2017. This clearly indicates that 66% of the coworkers have only worked with a single coworking space and never opted for another coworking space even when they are travelling out of their hometown.

Fact 3 – Expansion plans for coworking spaces

As per the survey, 2 out of every 3 coworking spaces were seriously looking forward to expansion in the year 2018. On average, each of the existing coworking space is seriously planning an expansion and the expansion plans is as high as 70%. The ambitious plans of the coworking spaces are quite astonishing. One-third of these coworking spaces are planning another centre in a minimum one more location while a quarter of the total number of coworking spaces strongly intends to expand the total availability of space in their current location. About one-twelfth of the total numbers of coworking spaces want to move to a bigger space. The coworking spaces which are profitable are ambitiously planning some more expansions and certainly moving to a bigger space seem exceedingly appealing even for those unprofitable coworking spaces (12%) as compared to those profitable coworking spaces (7%).

Fact 4 – The largest challenge existing for the coworking spaces

The above-discussed facts give us a rosy picture of how well the coworking spaces have been performing globally and India is nowhere an exception to the same. Despite the raging popularity of the coworking spaces, there is a challenge which the coworking spaces had faced significantly is attracting new members. 50% of the coworking spaces feel this as a major challenge and the figure has significantly gone up from 41% in the year 2016.

This challenge is presumed to be strong as there are more and more coworking spaces opening in every major city and this is creating major competition for the coworking spaces to attract new members.

The general workload is also one of the major challenges for the coworking spaces and 31% of the coworking spaces are of the belief that rent price is a major problem.

Conclusion

The above facts state that the coworking spaces are witnessing rapid development in recent times and 2018 has been a remarkably good year for the coworking industry. iKeva is proud to be one of the progressive coworking spaces in India and also have witnessed tremendous growth in the year 2018.