Glasgow and Edinburgh cheapest places to rent a desk in the whole of the UK, while Reading most expensive city outside London

Data from Office Freedom reveals the average cost of desks across the country post-pandemic

• Glasgow and Edinburgh revealed as cheapest cities to rent a desk across the UK, according to new data from Office Freedom
  
  
• Glasgow was the cheapest an average cost per desk in 2023 of £142, Edinburgh followed at £166, while Cardiff came in third at £176
  
  
• Reading most expensive city to rent a desk outside of London, with cost per desk of £309 in 2023
  
  
• Average cost per desk in London in 2023 totalled £548.67 - more than triple the cheapest city costs

New data from Office Freedom reveals which cities are the cheapest to rent a desk across the UK. Post-pandemic businesses have been gradually re-introducing office working, with some companies now making it mandatory for employees to return to the office five days a week.

Others have adopted flexible working, with companies turning to co-working spaces to offer employees office working throughout the week. Research from flexible office broker, Office Freedom, reveals the disparities in desk costs across the UK, with spaces in Scotland offering the cheapest cost per desk per month.

As hybrid working continues to dominate many industries, renting a desk is sometimes the preferred option for some people who don’t have the space to work at home or simply want a change of scenery.

The research found the most expensive place to rent a desk in the whole of the UK is Reading, where the average cost per desk was recorded at £309 in 2023. The cheapest spot, meanwhile, is Glasgow which came in with a cost of £142 last year - £160 less.

Office space outside of London

Looking at costs regarding office spaces outside of London, Glasgow came out on top as the cheapest city to rent a desk, with desk costs decreasing by 30% from £203 in 2020 to £142 in 2023.

Edinburgh followed in second with an average desk cost of £166 in 2023 (down 24% from £219 in 2020), while Cardiff came in third at £176 (a 31% reduction from its 2020 cost at £254).

Watford meanwhile came in at the fourth cheapest location, with an average desk cost of £180 last year, while Newcastle completed the top five cheapest places, with an average cost recorded of £194.

Cheapest places to rent a desk across the UK (as of 2023):

1) Glasgow - £142

2) Edinburgh - £166

3) Cardiff - £176

4) Watford - £180

5) Newcastle - £194

Reading, meanwhile, emerged as the most expensive city to rent a desk outside of London, with an average cost per desk of £309 in 2023. Costs increased by 63% from £190 in 2020. Aberdeen followed in second at £304 - recording a 52% increase from £200 over a three year period.

Cambridge was the third most expensive city, with the cost per desk actually decreasing slightly by 5% from £293 in 2020 to £278 in 2023. Leeds and Bristol made up the top five most expensive areas to rent a desk outside of London - desk costs came in at £271 in Leeds and £264 in Bristol.

Most expensive places outside of London to rent a desk across the UK (as of 2023):

1) Reading- £309

2) Aberdeen - £304

3) Cambridge - £278

4) Leeds - £271

5) Bristol - £264

Taking into account the recorded costs per desk across all locations, the average cost per desk for office space outside of London in 2023 came in at £233. While desk costs fluctuated between 2020 and 2023 for each individual location, the overall average desk cost outside of London across all locations as a whole has only increased by £2 within this three-year period (from £231 on average in 2020).

Cost per desk across the UK

Despite costs remaining high, the research shows that prices have fallen since the height of the pandemic in 2020 when the most expensive cost per desk in the UK outside of London was found in Bristol. The average cost was recorded at £333, while the cheapest cost per desk in 2020 was in Milton Keynes at £161 - slightly more expensive by £1 than the lowest costs per desk recorded in 2023.

When looking at the data the biggest difference from 2020 to 2023 was in Reading, with the data revealing a £119 difference over the three-year period. Newcastle has the smallest difference, falling by just £1 when comparing costs.

London office space

The average cost per desk per month in London, however, was more than triple the costs in the cheapest city (Glasgow) in 2023. Data reveals that the average cost per desk in the capital came in at £548.67 - this was £10 cheaper than its average cost per desk pre-pandemic in 2020 at £558.83.

Broken down into areas, the West End is the most expensive area to rent a desk within the city (£618 in 2023), while desk space in Southbank was revealed to be the cheapest with an average cost per desk of £448 - a difference of £170.

Cost per desk across London in 2023

Surprisingly the City came in at the second cheapest London location in 2023, with an average cost per desk of £533 - a difference of £85 compared to the cheapest location, Southbank.

On average, taking all London locations into account, the average cost per desk in the capital last year totalled £548.67 - £10 cheaper than the average cost per desk across all London locations in 2020 (£558.83).

**Breakdown of London clusters:

West End: St James’s, Mayfair, Fitzrovia, Soho, Marylebone, Westminster and Victoria, Paddington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge

Midtown: Euston and King’s Cross, Holborn/Chancery Lane, Covent Garden

City: Bank, Liverpool Street, Blackfriars

City Fringe: Clerkenwell/Farringdon, Shoreditch/Old Street, Aldgate/Whitechapel

Southbank: SE1

Docklands: Canary Wharf

Unlike the rest of the country, costs have remained predominantly the same from 2020 to 2023 in London, with only the West End, City and City Fringe seeing a slight fall in costs. The biggest fall in price came in the City when 2020 prices would have set you back £598 compared to £533 today, a £65 difference.

Richard Smith, spokesperson for Office Freedom shares: “Post-pandemic has seen businesses encourage office working once again, with many choosing to opt for co-working office spaces in order to adopt a more flexible working pattern. As businesses look to increase their office presence, it’s no surprise to see average costs per desk increasing, or in some cases surpassing, their pre-pandemic costs back in 2020 - especially in major cities such as London, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle.”

Mr Smith adds: “However, the data reinforces how hybrid working is still favourable post-pandemic, with Scotland’s major cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, instead seeing their average costs reduce significantly in the three-year period between 2020-2023.”

Office lease and move in times: London and across the UK

The data from Office Freedom also details office lease and moving times throughout the same three-year period between 2020 and 2023 - both across Central London and other major areas across the UK.

The data records the average lease term of a flexible office in days as well as the time it takes for a company to move into office, recording the number of days from its initial search into office space.

Looking at Central London, there’s a clear pattern within the data that shows companies leasing co-working office spaces are now staying longer, while the move in time recorded is shortening.

In 2020, the average lease term for a flexible office in Central London was 347 days, with this figure increasing significantly to 438 days in 2023. As for the time it takes for companies to move into a flexible office space, this has reduced by 39% from 100 days in 2020 to 61 days in 2023.

Central London - Flexible Office Space

While leases are now longer for flexible offices, traditional offices have seen a decline in lease duration over the same period of time. Companies are now moving on more quickly from traditional offices, with the average lease term decreasing by 15% from 6.6 years in 2020 to 5.6 years in 2023.

Post-pandemic, the average time a traditional office would spend on the market increased significantly by 41% from 11 months in 2020 to 15.5 months in 2022. However, the data suggests sales of traditional office space are now happening faster, with the average time spent on the market recorded at 11.9 months in 2023 - slightly longer than its 2020 average.

Central London - Traditional Office Space

Major locations outside of London

When considering major locations outside of London, trends differ when it comes to lease and move in times, with the data suggesting companies are favouring more traditional office spaces.

Initially, post-pandemic, flexible offices saw lease times increase, with the average lease term increasing from 365 days in 2020 to 512 days in 2021. However, the average lease term has steadily declined by 29% over the last two years, shortening to 420 days in 2022 and reducing again to 366 days in 2023.

The same trend can be seen in move in time, with the average time from lead to move jumping from 54 days in 2020 to 64 days in 2021, before then steadily decreasing to 55 days by 2023.

Major Locations excl. London Flexible Office Space

For traditional offices, the average lease term has remained relatively consistent between 2020 and 2023. It reduced from 5.9 years in 2020 to 5.5 years in 2021, before increasing back up to 5.9 years by 2023. The average time traditional office space has spent on the market saw a slight decrease between 2020 and 2021 (from 13.1 months to 12.8 months), before experiencing an increase of 28% to reach an average time of 16.1 months in 2022. Last year, this average had almost returned to its 2020 figure, recording an average market time of 13.6 months for 2023.

Richard Smith, spokesperson at Office Freedom, shares: “Post-pandemic working has seen a significant change in office needs, with companies now adopting flexible working patterns and favouring co-working office spaces as a result.”

“This trend is clearly reflected in the data, as it shows flexible offices are benefiting from longer lease times and shorter move-in times over the last three years - increasing the appeal of flexible offices to companies investing in office space. Traditional office space in the capital, meanwhile, has seen a steady 15% decline in its average lease term, with companies now carrying out shorter lease periods.”

“When it comes to major locations outside of London, however, average lease terms and the average time spent on market has remained relatively consistent. While both time periods fluctuated in the years just after the pandemic (2021-2022), by 2023 both flexible and traditional office space have seen both measures almost return to its 2020 state.”