Even before WeWork signed a lease for 89,307 sf at Southeast Financial Center, coworking has been rapidly gaining momentum in Miami, move over Manhattan as Miami is nipping at the heels of New York City and San Francisco for the largest inventory of coworking space in the United States as a share of commercial stock.

Currently, Miami has the third largest concentration of coworking operators in the country, and the leasing momentum for flex space in Magic City and its neighboring metropolises shows no signs of cooling soon. Coworking leasing in South Florida has been growing at a faster annual rate than the national average.

See the five trends we’re tracking to help you keep tabs on the temperature of the market.

1. Competition for space is mounting

In Q1 2019 alone, lessees have snatched up 270,000 square feet of coworking space—that’s already more than that leased in seven of the past nine years. Regus – IWC plc dominates the South Florida region, but WeWork has been rapidly acquiring space and is closely behind it in the Miami market. One of the latest locations, Giralada Place, expands WeWork’s presence further in Coral Gables. Here are the top five tenants:

• Regus – IWC plc 768,927 square feet
• WeWork 522,497 square feet
• Quest Space 166,370 square feet
• The Nexus Workspaces 106,000 square feet
• The Cambridge Innvovation Center 70,000

Top 5 Tenants

2. Centers of commerce are where it’s at

Thanks in part to higher population concentrations, millennial denizens, residents’ educational and white-collar job attainment, the following are South Florida’s top four submarkets for coworking space.

• Brickell
• Coral Gables
• Downtown Miami
• Fort Lauderdale Downtown
• Suburban Palm Beach

3. There’s nothing like our independent streak

A growing presence of solo businesses and freelancers in South Florida makes for a favorable coworking forecast.

Florida leads the nation in the largest increase in non-employer businesses, according to the most recent US Census data. In greater Miami, found freelancer marketplace Fiverr, independent workers and freelancers grew by more than 23 percent—and grew their revenue by more than 32 percent—between 2011 and 2015.

Between 1997 and 2015, reported the Stephen S. Fuller Institute, the number of non-employer establishments in Magic City’s metro area increased 142 percent, more than twice the rate of the national average.

4. Large corporations like it here

With the state’s warm weather and lower taxes, large corporations are migrating to Florida and increasingly scooping up co-working space to attract talent, especially techies. Local hospitality, transportation and cruise line companies are also expanding their presence in the region. An example is Royal Caribbean, which recently moved into five full floors in WeWork’s location in the Security Building in downtown Miami to appeal to its hefty digital technology workforce.

5. Hotels are open for business

Selina, a boho chic hotel chain launched in South America will soon open a Miami location offering coworking as a guest amenity. True, Selina is co-owned by a WeWork exec, but hotels nationwide are seizing the opportunity to energize their lobbies with remote workers. Miami-Dade County is poised to embrace this trend, with more than 78 hotels currently in the construction pipeline.

This article was originally published on JLL.com where you will find fresh perspectives and new opportunities at Trends & insights – our home for news and research on JLL.com. Discover global and local real estate trends shaping the way we live, work and play. www.jll.com. Reprinted with permission.