Real estate developers and financial investors are capitalising on fast-rising demand for leasing of “co-working” spaces in China, as Beijing encourages startups and small businesses in a bid to offset slowing growth at traditional industries. Developers, including China Vanke, Soho China and Singapore’s CapitaLand, are renting out property space that hordes of self-employed persons or small-sized companies then share, company executives said. The lease deals with the startups are usually short-term and are done mainly through specialised operators.
Financial investors are also jumping in on the bandwagon, amid a growing belief that shared spaces deliver greater synergies by driving up innovation and productivity. Citic Capital, whose seven-storey shopping mall “Shanghai 189 Lane” is due to open later this month, will rent its top two floors to a co-working space operator.
Read more: Economic Times
