Customers work at a shared working space in Hanoi City. The coworking space model has been growing strongly in Hanoi City since early 2019. (Photo: Van Ly)
Coworking space involves a shared workplace and independent activity. The space rental fee ranges from VND1.5 to VND2 million per person per month.
Speaking at the seminar, Do Hoai Nam, founder of the Up coworking space brand, said that the shared working space model is gaining ground and the number of coworking space users has risen strongly recently.
“Up is developing 40,000 square meters of coworking space in Hanoi and HCMC,” he said, adding that from now until the end of the year, Up will extend its coworking space area to 100,000 square meters in each city.
Nam said that the demand for office space is on an upward trend, leading to the firm’s expansion. Many new firms are expected to be established to offer shared working spaces in the years to come, he said.
Apart from Up, Hanoi City has become home to tens of coworking space brands funded by domestic and international investors.
The city is seeing hundreds of coworking space firms operating actively and expanding their operations constantly, such as Spaces and Regus.
The strong growth of the coworking space in Hanoi City and high interest in the shared working space market have made Vietnam one of the top five countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of coworking space leases, said a representative of CBRE at the seminar.
The coworking space market in Hanoi City is expected to further grow in the second half of 2019, and alongside traditional offices, the model will meet rising demand for office rentals, according to CBRE.
Data from CBRE shows that in the second quarter of the year, the vacancy of Grade A offices in Hanoi City fell by 2% against the figure seen in the first quarter. Although the second quarter saw Hanoi City gain an extra 29,000 square meters of Grade B offices from two new buildings, the vacancy rate of Grade B offices reached a mere 10.6%, up 2.5% versus the previous quarter.
In the first half of 2019, the demand for shared working spaces in Hanoi City mainly came from the information technology and logistics sectors, with the majority of customers being Japanese and U.S. firms.
Some experts attributed the booming coworking space market in the city to the rise in new offices owned by local and foreign firms. Besides this, the number of startups in Vietnam is continuing its upward spiral, leading to high demand for office rentals.
In addition, multiple major enterprises doing business in Vietnam such as FPT and Samsung are expanding their business operations and increasing the number of employees, contributing to driving up interest in the coworking space market.
