The coworking industry is taking a hit as users continue to avoid crowds and public areas due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
According to Alf Moufarrige, founder and chief executive at Servcorp, the company’s coworking sales across the UK, Europe and Australia fell between 30% and 40% over the past three weeks.
“The change has been really dramatic,” said Moufarrige. “Everyone wanted to be part of a community a month ago – now nobody wants to touch them.”
The company’s offices in Asia are taking the biggest hit, particularly those in mainland China and Hong Kong.
Although coworking sales have been down, Moufarrige said that virtual office sales are up 50% to date this month compared to the same time last year.
Additionally, founder of Hub Australia Brad Krauskopf said the number of occupants at the company’s eight locations had fallen 20% since last week.
Coworking companies are taking precautions to protect tenants from the virus by providing hand sanitizer, the latest information about the virus and increasing the cleaning of their facilities.