Companies will likely continue to offer their employees greater choice in where they work as 2021, and flexspace will be a part of their offerings, according to a Colliers International report. This will give a boost to this office format, however much of the growth will occur outside the list of usual CBD suspects, as some markets are already feeling the supply pinch from a lack of flex workspaces outside of downtown locations. 

"As occupiers continue to seek a range of geographic locations to solve for a distributed workforce there is a substantial deficit of supply in suburban areas, secondary cities, commuter towns and emerging markets," the Colliers report states. "2021 will be the year that non-CBD flexible workspace supply increases dramatically."

The firm predicts this increased supply will be delivered by both existing operators and new entrants, as well as through repositioned retail and hotel assets. And while institutional office owners with well-built-out portfolios may be able to better serve occupiers' far-flung location needs these days, there are no perfect solutions. Flex workspace providers with a diverse network of locations are a nice stopgap, as are hotels or malls looking to convert vacant spaces may present as reliable options—but "no one of these stakeholders will be able to solve this demand alone," Colliers says.