A decade of data reveals flexibility didn’t weaken coworking, it reshaped it

As coworking has become more flexible, it has often been assumed that demand has become weaker. But a decade of global data suggests the opposite: flexibility hasn’t reduced how space is used – it has changed how people commit to using it.

Nexudus, the coworking and flexible-workspace management platform used by more than 3,000 spaces across 90+ countries, is sharing new insights drawn from 10 years of aggregated, anonymised operational data. The findings show that while commitment patterns have shifted, the industry’s underlying demand remains resilient.

The analysis is published in ‘Coworking today, explained by 10 years of data,’ authored by Nexudus Co-founder and CEO Carlos Almansa, and forms part of the company’s FlexSpace Observatory initiative – a long-term data project designed to help the industry distinguish structural change from short-term fluctuation.

One of the clearest trends in the data is the growth of flexible access products and hotdesking relative to fixed desks and long-term contracts. Crucially, this shift did not lead to a decline in overall usage.

“Flexible access products and hotdesking grew faster than fixed products over the past several years… But this growth did not coincide with a collapse in utilisation. Instead, it coincided with shorter planning horizons on the member side,” said Almansa.

Rather than disengaging from coworking, members became less willing to lock in commitments far in advance — choosing flexibility without reducing how much they actually use workspace.

Shorter commitments are frequently treated as a warning signal: a sign that demand is weakening or becoming unreliable. The long-term data suggests this interpretation misses the real shift.

As flexibility expanded, members didn’t reduce how much they used coworking spaces, they reduced predictability. Demand increasingly materialised closer to the moment of use, making performance appear more volatile even when underlying utilisation remained steady.

That distinction became especially visible after the pandemic. FlexspaceObservatory data shows that operator bookings plunged to as low as 25 bookings in April 2020, before rebounding strongly to over 420 bookings for large operators by early 2022. What followed was not a return to long-term commitments, but a recovery driven by shorter planning cycles and more flexible access indicating that activity returned even as predictability changed.

This pattern has often been misread as instability. In reality, the data shows a resilient model adapting to a new demand rhythm, where usage remains strong but expresses itself closer to the point of need.

By looking across multiple economic cycles, regions, and operating models, the FlexspaceObservatory data shows that this change is not a temporary response to hybrid work or recent disruption.

“One of the privileges of building Nexudus for so long is the ability to zoom out,” said Almansa. “When you look at 10 years of anonymised coworking data, some patterns confirm what operators feel day to day, and others challenge long-held assumptions. FlexspaceObservatory exists to help the industry focus on long-term signals, not just short-term noise.”

Flexibility, the data suggests, is no longer a differentiator or a risk factor. It is now the baseline operating context for coworking and the challenge for operators is designing businesses that can absorb flexible demand without losing clarity, efficiency, or performance.

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