A Short History of Coworking

Why It Matters

The shift positions coworking as a strategic asset for companies managing hybrid work, and its modest market share signals significant upside for investors and landlords.

Key Takeaways

• U.S. coworking reaches ~9,000 locations, 150M sq ft in 2025
• Enterprises now drive majority of coworking demand via hybrid work policies
• WeWork emerged from bankruptcy, profitable by mid‑2025 under Yardi
• CBRE acquired Industrious for $800M, cementing institutional adoption
• Coworking still only 2% of U.S. office inventory, ample growth runway

Pulse Analysis

The coworking concept traces its roots to early hacker collectives like Berlin’s C‑Base in 1995, but it wasn’t until Brad Neuberg opened the first official space in San Francisco’s Mission District in 2005 that the model began to coalesce. Over the next decade the number of venues doubled annually, expanding from a handful of U.S. sites to a global network of roughly 42,000 spaces serving five to six million members. This rapid scaling was fueled by low‑cost, asset‑light operations and a cultural shift toward collaboration, laying the groundwork for today’s flexible‑office ecosystem.

COVID‑19 upended traditional office usage, turning hybrid work from an experiment into the dominant employment model. Enterprises, seeking to avoid the cost of permanent desks, turned to coworking as an elasticity valve, driving a surge in corporate demand that now eclipses the freelancer base. Financial turbulence at marquee operators highlighted the importance of sustainable lease structures; WeWork’s Chapter 11 exit and subsequent profitability under Yardi, alongside CBRE’s $800 million purchase of Industrious, illustrate how asset‑light management agreements and revenue‑sharing with landlords are reshaping the industry’s economics.

Despite representing only about 2 % of U.S. office inventory, coworking’s footprint—nearly 150 million square feet—offers a sizable runway for expansion. Secondary markets such as Dallas‑Fort Worth and Phoenix are witnessing double‑digit inventory growth, while suburban satellite locations cater to hybrid workers closer to home. Investors and landlords view the sector as a long‑term complement to traditional office space, with double‑digit occupancy gains expected as more firms embed flexible work into their real‑estate strategies. The convergence of enterprise demand, mature operating models, and untapped market share positions coworking as a pivotal growth engine in commercial real estate.