Australian PropTech disrupter Rubberdesk recently announced the relaunch of its peer to peer marketplace for businesses.
Through the platform, businesses are able to earn money by renting out their spare office space on a monthly basis.
The platform currently has over 15,000 spaces available to rent, with the relaunch adding extended three-, six- and 12-monthly rental terms, online payment processing and standard licence agreements to the service.
According to Rubberdesk Co-Founder and CEO Jim Groves, the demand for this type of arrangement has doubled in size in the last four months.
“The choice of turnkey offices available has never been better and that’s great news for businesses of all sizes.
“And with more businesses renting space for a year or more without ever taking a lease, peer to peer rentals is a game changer and valuable addition to the industry,” he said.
Despite traditional office space availability now at an all-time low across most capital cities, research published by professional services firm JLL expects the flexible office space market to account for 30 per cent of office space in the coming years. Rubberdesk’s own research puts the value of unused office space globally at over $130bn per annum.
Hosts on the platform include WeWork, IWG and Servcorp as well as traditional businesses, a fact that Rubberdesk Co-Founder and CTO David Dale is very proud of.
“The challenge was to make it easy for traditional businesses with spare office space to earn without it becoming a full-time job. Now, businesses have the tools to list their space, get paid online, have agreements all done for them.
“Our focus is on using technology to reduce friction around the rental process. From start to finish we’ve put control in our customers’ hands. The design of the site is an intentional departure from the traditional real estate feel, and instead is more organic and human, which reflects our ‘people first’ approach,” he said.
