1) What office occupiers really want:

The top three in-demand office features – according to Workthere’s 2025 Flexmark survey of operators - are ‘meeting rooms’, ‘phone booths’ and ‘collaboration space’, far ahead of ‘roof terraces’ (ranked 10th) and ‘proximity to a gym’ (ranked 12th). This shows that office space providers need to get the basics right first rather than focusing on the extras in 2026.

2) Expansion on the horizon:

As part of our Workthere Flexmark survey, we also asked operators on their expansion plans, which revealed that 85% anticipate that they will grow their offer in 2026. As a result, we expect to see established operators increase their national presence as well as progressively look across borders.

3) The rise of management agreements and hybrid leases:

In Europe, management agreements and hybrid leases (base rent and a profit share) are increasingly the preferred growth model for flex operators. The share of operators expanding via this route has risen
from 45% in 2023 to 63% in 2025, and in the UK specifically, the model now dominates, climbing from 46% to 78% over the same period.

We expect 2026 to show a continued rise in the overall share to above 70% as the rest of the continent catches up on this trend. In fact, we’re already seeing more and more landlords consider management agreements in markets such as Germany, France and Poland.

4) New players in the flex growth markets:

We expect to see the continued expansion of flex in Dubai and Riyadh which ranked 4th and 5th globally for prime average desk price across key global cities in our most recent Flexmark price list. Desk prices in both cities have risen exponentially in the past few years as a result of an increase in demand and a shortage of current supply. Average prime desk rates in theses markets currently stand at USD 1,089 and USD 1,066 per month, respectively, making them more expensive than more established ‘flex cities’ such as Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam.

Despite these relatively elevated prices, many global operators are seeing these markets as a big opportunity and are seeking to build a presence in the Middle East, especially Riyadh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where there are a number of Giga projects underway so we anticipate several international operators to make their entry into this market.

5) Corporates increasingly using flex:

In many of the countries we monitor, we are seeing the percentage of corporates using flex as part of their office portfolio grow significantly. As a result, these companies are becoming increasingly dominant players in the flex space, with global or national corporates already accounting for 44% of flex occupiers in EMEA, compared to 30% in North America.

In certain European markets, such as Berlin, Manchester or Warsaw, the percentage of flex space taken up by such businesses now accounts for over 50% of the local market. In 2026, we anticipate that larger businesses will continue to seek flexible all-inclusive arrangements that allow for agility on budgets in an uncertain economic environment.

The flex market is not called flex for nothing and we’ll continue to see the market evolve and mature in 2026.