NEWS

officebroker.com Experiences Substantial Growth During 2010

2010 turned out to be a hugely successful year for Dallas-based executive suite specialists officebroker.com, with business inquiries increasing by 70% compared to 2009, and new deals rising by an impressive 26%.

Both inquiries and deals increased for officebroker.com in 2010 compared to 2009.

Despite a difficult year in which US businesses have continued to feel the effects of a delicate post-recession economy, officebroker.com has successfully bucked the trend and continued to experience growth by recording a significant increase in both inquiries and new business deals.

Inquiries

Overall, the number of new inquiries received in 2010 is 70% higher than those received in 2009, which represents a substantial increase in businesses looking for executive suites compared to the previous year.

March produced the highest rate of growth, with inquiries showing a massive 149% increase in March 2010 compared to March 2009, while April produced the next best with an increase of 132% year-on-year, followed by May with 116%.

What prompted so many inquiries in 2010?

There are different reasons for this increase, which is partly down to an increase in officebroker.com's marketing activities. However it is also possible that, despite the continuous after-effects of the recession, many businesses are building confidence and regaining strength, which is resulting in a higher volume of inquiries.

Below graph shows us.officebroker.com inquiries in 2010 (red) compared to 2009 (blue):

Reports suggest that the number of new start-up businesses increased during and after the recession, partly due to a rise in redundancies and unemployment, which triggered many business professionals to 'go it alone'. Even for those business plans that failed to make it past the starting post last year, in many cases, inquiries for essentials such as office space were still made.

Another reason is that the recession prompted businesses to actively push for growth by diversifying and attempting to break into new markets and locations, which can be assisted by taking on an executive suite. Again this resulted in extra inquiries to officebroker.com, particularly as executive suites offer such a flexible approach to officing that would appeal to companies that are looking to test a new location.

Deals

officebroker.com's figures show that the increase in inquiries has fuelled a rise in new business deals, with an overall increase of 26% new deals in 2010 compared to 2009. 10 out of 12 months in 2010 produced a higher volume of deals than in 2009, ranging from an increase of 5% (December) up to 82% (August).

Of the remaining 2 months that did not exceed 2009’s deal volumes, February 2010 equalled the number of deals in February 2009, while October 2010 dropped by just -4% compared to the same month in 2009.

Below graph shows us.officebroker.com deals in 2010 (red) compared to 2009 (blue) - note that Jan 2009/2010 figures are currently unavailable so have been omitted:

This rise in deals is a natural knock-on effect following the significant increase in inquiries seen throughout 2010, and is also evidence of the steady growth of the industry as its merits become more widely recognized.

In addition, it is expected that 2010 was still very much a 'client's market' in some areas, whereby prospective tenants were able to exercise an element of control over office providers as lower-than-average workstation costs continued to affect some parts of the US. This drew in many new clients who were able to secure cheaper rents and incentives, something that is expected to lessen during 2011.

Natural growth

Along with these theories, the increase in inquiries and deals via officebroker.com throughout 2010 can be attributed to officebroker.com's natural growth as a company, which has continued to expand throughout the year.

Having continually exceeded its targets year on year, officebroker.com has proved that it has a sound infrastructure and, as the Dallas-based company enters its 5th year in the industry, it is now looking to build on this success in 2011 by increasing its portfolio of office providers, working with center operators to increase workstation value, and attracting a greater volume of clients to drive more business to the executive suite sector.

With these plans in place and off the back of a very successful 2010, officebroker.com anticipates another prosperous year in 2011, and is looking forward to sharing this growth with its office providers throughout the US.