Hard-Facts

Vienna is seeing a vacancy rate of around 3.6% and rising prime rents. What does that mean for companies looking for office space in good locations today – and for the people working in this market?

When we started YOUR OFFICE in 1997, a “real” office was anything but flexible or service-oriented: lots of space, long leases, your own kitchen, your own assistant. Flexible models were seen more as a temporary solution, not a long-term business case. Today the picture has changed dramatically. Globally, the market for flexible and serviced offices is expected to roughly triple by 2032, with forecasts pointing to clearly double-digit growth rates.

In most European markets, the share of flexible office space is not yet at that level – but it is growing steadily. In London, flex space already accounts for a double-digit share of the office market, and a further significant increase is expected by 2030.

At the same time, availability in good locations is tight. In a city like Vienna, a low office vacancy rate means that high-quality, sustainably built buildings in central locations are scarce – and becoming more expensive.

Many companies therefore want to reduce their office footprint without losing a good address or their external presence. They need to bring employees back to the office and are realizing that old layouts and “mandatory presence” are not enough. They are under pressure to meet ESG requirements, but no longer want to sign classic long-term leases. And they want to relieve their teams of the day-to-day facilities burden – no more debates about who cleans the kitchen or who takes care of tech, reception, and maintenance.

Just recently, a Vienna real-estate expert summed it up perfectly: “I’ve always liked working in this industry, but the old model doesn’t feel right anymore.” For him, our niche is becoming increasingly attractive: serviced and flex offices in premium locations that are growing, responding to new-work and ESG concepts, and enabling companies to actively shape the workplace of the future instead of merely watching traditional space being downsized.

Nearly half of all headquarters of international companies in Austria are located in Vienna. At the same time, fewer and fewer corporates want to commit to rigid office models.

So what truly matters to global corporates today when they choose Vienna – and why are they increasingly opting for serviced offices instead of the classic model?

We get this question a lot, especially from people who still have the traditional picture in mind: a corporation leases several floors in an office building, a ten-year term, everything organized in-house.

But the reality of recent years looks different. International companies come to us with very clear questions:

They want a premium location, often within a specific cluster – close to their partners, customers, or the IT industry – but because of new working models and usage concepts, their space requirements no longer fit the classic scheme. Or they simply no longer want to commit long term because they are testing a market or setting up a time-limited spin-off.

Others are pursuing downsizing or rightsizing strategies: a CEE hub becomes a smaller sales representative office; teams are reduced; the old site no longer fits. The expectations around address, quality, and brand presence remain – but the space needs to be leaner, more flexible, and more modern. Desk sharing and hybrid work models are often introduced at the same time. Employees should also feel more comfortable in the new space and come back to the office more frequently – because they are convinced, and because the added value is tangible.

Almost all of them are grappling with similar issues:

– Bringing employees back to the office without rigid attendance rules.

– Taking hybrid work seriously while still providing a professional setting with high-quality meeting rooms and reliable AV/IT.

– Meeting ESG requirements and moving into sustainable buildings without locking into decades-long leases.

– Taking everyday facilities tasks off teams’ plates – no more discussions about kitchens, technology, cleaning, or maintenance.

Corporates rarely decide based on gut feeling. They calculate total cost of occupancy: rent, fit-out, cleaning, reception, IT infrastructure, legally required maintenance, internal headcount – and in some cases even balance-sheet effects if leases stay under 12 months. In many cases, a high-quality serviced office performs better in that calculation than a self-managed solution – at the same or better address quality.

That is why we see our role less as a traditional landlord and more as a partner offering global companies in Vienna a professional, scalable, and agile framework – exactly where the traditional long-term model reaches its limits.