“Few companies can absorb all the large office spaces being supplied in urban areas. Some of it will inevitably be filled through shared offices.”
As concerns grow over increasing vacancies due to the planned supply of large office spaces in Seoul's central business district (CBD), Kim Dae-il, CEO of Fast Five, views the new supply as an opportunity to expand the shared office market.
Kim stated, “From the recent completions in the Euljiro area to the offices expected to be supplied by 2029, we anticipate a minimum of 100,000 square meters and potentially up to 200,000 square meters in the city. This presents an incredible opportunity and opens a new market for Fast Five.”
Fast Five positions itself as a “vacancy solver” for building owners. While traditional offices require finding a single tenant to occupy hundreds to thousands of square meters, shared offices can divide large spaces into individual rooms or suites for multiple companies.
Kim pointed to Magok as a leading example of the changing urban office market. In recent years, large office facilities have been established in Magok, leading to vacancies in some buildings. Last year, Fast Five secured about 1,000 square meters near Magoknaru Station and operated it as a shared office.
While other floors in the same building struggled to find tenants, the space Fast Five secured was mostly filled. This was due to a diverse influx of demand from aviation and biotech companies, as well as content firms and corporate training centers. Recently, Fast Five signed an additional contract for about 700 square meters in the same building.
Kim noted, “To find a tenant for 500 or 1,000 square meters in Magok, a large-scale relocation by a major corporation would be necessary. However, because Fast Five divides the space, we were able to fill 1,000 square meters with a variety of demands, from content companies moving from Yeouido to aviation and biotech firms, as well as corporate training centers.”
He added, “Building owners who have seen the rapid filling of spaces created as shared offices have proposed further expansions. It is highly likely that similar phenomena will occur in urban areas.”
The new office supply in the city is expected to impact other business districts, such as Gangnam (GBD) and Yeouido (YBD). If the increase in supply raises the vacancy rate in the city, rental prices may adjust, prompting companies from other regions to relocate to the more competitively priced urban areas.
Kim emphasized, “The role of shared offices is to subdivide large buildings to meet corporate demand. As office supply increases, the role of operators in helping building owners resolve vacancies and providing appropriately sized offices for companies will become even more significant.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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