ImmobilienZeitung (36/2020) vom 03.09.2020. Artikel von Alexander Heintze.

"The uncertain future prospects are leading companies to rethink their sometimes long-term rental contracts. Others are currently holding back on new rentals because they do not know how much space they actually need between home office and infection protection. Start-ups want to step into this gap as sharing brokers and promise tenants and landlords more flexibility.

The Munich-based travel provider FlixMobility had big plans. Nothing less than global expansion was on the agenda for the operator of the green long-distance buses and trains last year. FlixTrains, FlixCar and FlixBus were supposed to turn the former start-up into a global mobility provider. The Munich headquarters therefore also had to grow. In June, OFB Projektentwicklung handed over 17,600 m² of office space in the recently completed KapWest on Friedenheimer Brücke in western Munich to the anchor tenant FlixMobility. In the southern building, Flix rented floors two to sixteen. That was too much space, as it now turns out. FlixMobility no longer needs about a third of the space. Subtenants have been found for two floors.

The consequences of the Corona crisis are being felt by tenants and landlords. The first companies that have rented more space than they need in markets with a great shortage are giving up space. Subletting in the top locations is increasing.

Sharing brokers such as (…) ShareYourSpace (…) want to increase space efficiency as a kind of Airbnb for commercial space and help tenants and landlords to be more flexible.

Companies should use these platforms to rent, sublet or share their unused office space with other companies, startups or freelancers. Not only complete offices or entire floors are rented, but also individual workstations and meeting rooms. The rooms can be rented by the hour or for up to several years.

In contrast to coworking providers or classic rental platforms, the sharing offers do not come from brokers, but from the owners and tenants of the space. They allocate the coveted square meters directly to the users. The platforms are pure intermediaries.

(…) The actual tenant can thus access the space flexibly if the economic situation improves faster than expected or significantly fewer employees want to stay in the home office than initially thought.

"We often see that it is difficult to find the one subtenant who needs the space on offer," adds Tobias Wagner, founder and managing director of the Munich start-up ShareYourSpace. The small-scale marketing of the space, on the other hand, meets more demand and enables more flexible use. In addition, these customers often have little to no demands for conversions and no special requests.

 

Corona is a driver of this business model

Corona could be a driver of this business model. Almost all large companies are thinking about more flexible working models and, above all, less working time in the corporate office. According to a survey conducted by the consulting firm KPMG in July among more than 300 companies, almost 70% of the CEOs surveyed want to send their employees to work from home more often (see "CEOs no longer feel unfamiliar with teleworking"). They also assume that they will need less office space as a result.

"At the moment, companies do not know how much less space they will need in the long term," says Leimbach, explaining the dilemma. No company can say what it will actually look like in a year or two. But subtenants also need a certain degree of planning security as well as longer-term rental contracts. This is one reason why subletting has only been observed sporadically so far, says Wolfgang Speer, Head of Office & Occupier Services at Colliers International. "It will take time for the consequences of the recession and new office concepts to have an impact on the office markets, which is why we do not expect a significant increase in subletting until the end of 2020 and especially next year," explains Speer.

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Space sharing also offers tenants more room to react. "In dynamic times, forcing yourself into a rigid corset with long rental contracts for years is economically questionable. Flexibility is becoming more and more important," says Tobias Wagner from ShareYourSpace. The platforms want to offer this flexibility.

With Airbnb, everything is possible, from spending the night on an air mattress in a student shared apartment to spending the night in style in a waterbed in a villa. "In contrast to coworking, we also have this range," says Wagner, who sees an advantage in commercial Airbnbs. In addition, the offer directly from companies is usually cheaper than from traditional coworking providers. Because unlike coworking, the shared office concept relies on the utilization of unused space and cost sharing.

(…) This means that office sharing is a complement to the large coworkers. These primarily concentrate on the best locations in the city centers. In contrast, the sharing brokers can also offer rooms in the outskirts, suburbs and smaller towns.

Here, the agents hope to benefit from the new generation of mobile workers. They do not want to or cannot work from home, but also do not want to have long commutes. "We deliberately want to cover areas away from the city centers and thus make short transport routes possible," says Wagner. (...) The focus is on areas owned by medium-sized companies, which are often located in rural regions and may have planned too large in the past. They now have the chance to find subtenants.

The potential is enormous. ShareYourSpace assumes that around half of the total 500 million m² of office space in Germany is "invisible vacancy". Colliers' head landlord Leimbach also sees this potential. Large companies could move to renting smaller offices in the suburbs and suburbs of cities in order to allow project teams from the surrounding area to work together there. "This is a middle ground without having employees come to the headquarters," says Leimbach. This is an opportunity for smaller coworking providers and for new providers of office sharing models. (…) ShareYourSpace boss Wagner sees another user group in construction companies and project developers. They are increasingly moving away from container offices and looking for offices in the area of ​​their project that they can rent for a certain period of time.

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The concept has advantages not only for tenants, but also for landlords, says Wagner. They can offer existing tenants who want to reduce their space the opportunity to sublet via the platforms. This gives tenants "room to breathe and reduces the risk of them moving out," he stresses. But there are hurdles. Many standard rental agreements now prohibit subletting and transfers. Banks also have to move away from the requirements, especially for the Wa(u)lt (Weighted Average (Unexpired) Lease Term). The desired terms for rental agreements are already getting shorter and shorter. Currently, hardly anyone wants to commit to ten to 15 years. Wagner has another argument for property owners and tenants: the distributed workplaces mean less commuter traffic. This is good for the environment and for the companies' sustainability balance.

In the future, companies want to work more closely with property owners. (...) The first approaches have already been made. Last year, Commerz Real acquired a 25% stake in ShareYourSpace. Aurelis Real Estate is also testing the temporary rental of an event location in the Triebwerk commercial area in Munich via the platform. An expansion of the concept is conceivable. For example, the short-term brokerage of retail space has already been discussed with Commerz Real. Alternative uses such as offices could bring more frequency to the struggling shopping centers. Retail landlords could address a larger group of users via the platforms. However, demand is currently still the problem for the young platforms. While the supply is growing steadily, users are cautious. Wagner is nevertheless convinced that the sharing brokers will ultimately benefit from the pandemic. "Flexibility was learned and organized during the Corona crisis and will in future be an essential criterion when deciding for or against a space."