I just read about a popular co-working company in New York called Framework. The concept is super simple. They rent single-person office pods (see above). Each one is sound insulated and has a sitting/standing desk, a filing cabinet, a kettle, a french press, and a small fridge. And at their latest location in Williamsburg, these rent for $820 per month. Their tagline is "your home office away from home" and I think that's a good way of describing the offering. Because let's consider the math.
These pods are 8 feet x 8 feet. So at $820 per month, one would be effectively paying about $12.81 per square foot in rent, which I would assume is significantly higher than average apartment rents in the city. If you take the present value of $820 per month over 25 years at a rate of 5% (to generally simulate mortgage payments), you get close to $140k in value. My point being that if you can afford an additional $820 per month for an office pod, then you could likely afford to rent or buy a home with an additional 64 square feet.
But from what I can tell, that's not necessarily the main problem that Framework is solving. The key words seem to be: "away from home." Home can be distracting for some people and in some situations. If you're trying to get serious work done, I can see why shuttering yourself in a pod would be an attractive solution.
Photo via Framework
