Although 2011 was a tough year for many businesses, the flexible office market, yet again, withstood most of the challenges presented to it. We’ve seen many indications that the market for serviced office space is developing well and proving more than sustainable.

We saw a global increase in inquiry levels of nearly 8% compared to 2010 whilst at the same time we were able to achieve a record number of deals in the calendar year. We believe that 2012 will continue to be a challenging year, but the initial indications are positive with high lead flow and high deal numbers being achieved in most markets.

In localised markets, the UK saw an increase in both leads and deals. Leads were up nearly 23% compared to 2010 while deal volume rose by nearly 15%. To cope with these extra volumes we also increased the number of staff working in our sales team. We now have over 50 staff dedicated solely to sales.

In the EMEA region we also saw rising deal volumes - up 15% on 2010. This has resulted in a significant up lift in the contract values we are achieving with Operators. If you are thinking about booking your holiday, don’t book one for June as it is the busiest month for deals in both the UK and EMEA.

The Americas continues to grow with new buildings being added across the US and Canada with many new sites being added in South America too. As a whole, lead volume has increased year on year since 2010.

Our Asia Pac team based in Sydney has grown to a team of 5 to help us with growing demand for flexible office space. We witnessed a small increase in transactions in 2011 compared to 2010, but the really good news is that average workstation rates are on the up.

Instant’s Global Sales Director, Patricia Bacon looks forward to 2012:

“2012 has started well for Instant and we have seen a big increase in deal numbers in all global regions and there are very strong volumes of inquiries coming in. We are seeing high levels of viewings and many clients committing early. Whilst the economy remains turbulent, this is reassuring.

Our global reach means that we are working with small and medium sized companies as well as the larger Corporate businesses, helping them find office space around the world, be that a 2nd office or dipping their toe in to new markets overseas. This is a real focus for us - bringing more business to all our Operators whilst reinforcing the benefits of having flexible offices as part of an organisation’s portfolio of properties. It has also been good to see so many of you looking to expand in to new areas and asking for our advice and guidance.”.

Patricia and all of us here at Instant look forward to another successful year with you, our Operators.