This July, Observatorio Inmobiliario, one of the most relevant sectorial media in our country, has published an opinion article by our Director of Business Development, Javier Higuera Mata, focused on the growth opportunities of coliving.
Coliving is a collaborative residential model that has many similarities with coworkings, which are shared workspaces where professionals – such as freelancers or employees who have partial or full days of teleworking – as well as companies (most commonly SMEs or startups) can develop their activity. In fact, in its beginnings, coliving was aimed at a type of person very similar to the majority of coworking users: young professionals who work mainly in small (and not so small) technology companies.
The origin of coliving stems from the shortage of housing in Silicon Valley, one of the areas with the highest concentration of technology companies on the planet and, consequently, a magnet for young techie professionals from all over the world. Therefore, there were two problems to solve: on the one hand, the difficulty of finding a residence in such a specific geographical area (with the consequent increase in purchase and rental prices); and, on the other hand, the socialisation needs of these young professionals who had recently arrived in California, who, not having a circle of friends, found it more difficult to integrate, which reduced their satisfaction with their work.
Sharing functional spaces (such as kitchen, dining room or work rooms) and leisure spaces (gym, cinema rooms, etc.) where they could interact with other people and make friends but, at the same time, enjoy privacy with areas for individual use, is the base on which coliving was founded, although nowadays this residential option is no longer focused only on young digital nomads. And this is one of the points that HCP’s Business Development Director addresses in his opinion article for Observatorio Inmobiliario: “Coliving has great advantages not only for profiles such as students or digital nomads, but it is also a very valid option for single-family homes, which will be the type of housing that will grow the most in Spain over the next 15 years”.
Javier Higuera also highlights the functional versatility of coliving and the advantages it offers investors, who can “diversify their income by offering complementary services, such as cleaning, renting coworking spaces, etc.”.
Due to its flexibility in adapting to new residential trends, as well as its ability to attract investors, the HCP Business Development Director believes that, although its implementation in Spain is still in its beginnings, coliving will become in the long term “one of the types of housing that will grow the most in the national and international market”.
