European coliving has moved from a niche experiment to a recognised part of the living-sector asset class. Investors, operators and researchers now track it the way they track student housing or build-to-rent. This report walks through the numbers in order: market size, growth rate, bed supply, leading cities, operators and the forces driving demand — including what they mean for a small, dense market like Brussels.
How Big Is the Coliving Market in Europe?
European coliving is attracting roughly €2.6 billion of targeted investment over three years, according to Savills. That figure captures capital earmarked for the sector rather than the value of existing stock, which reflects how quickly investor attention has turned toward it.
Globally, the picture is larger. Market-size estimates from living-sector analysts put the worldwide coliving market in the low tens of billions of US dollars today, with projections that it could approach $42 billion by 2030 on current growth. These figures come from firms such as Savills in its European Living research, and all should be confirmed against the latest report before citing, since methodologies and base years differ between analysts.
How Fast Is the European Coliving Market Growing?
The European coliving market is growing at a double-digit annual rate, with compound annual growth commonly estimated in the low-to-mid teens by analysts such as JLL and Bonard. Growth of that pace would roughly double bed supply over five to six years if it held.
Investor intent points the same way. A Savills survey found that around 51% of surveyed investors planned to enter the coliving sector within three years — among the highest reported intent across the living sectors. Both the growth rate and the survey share are analyst estimates that shift between reports, so treat them as indicative of direction rather than precise values. The underlying momentum is consistent with the wider co-living trend insights shaping demand for flexible, community-led housing.
How Many Coliving Beds Are There in Europe?
Coliving bed supply concentrates in a handful of large national markets. The approximate number of coliving beds in the largest European markets is listed below.
| Country | Operational beds | Pipeline | Source type |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | ~3,400 (2022) | ~5,000 in development | Savills |
| Germany | Several thousand | Growing pipeline | JLL |
| France | Low thousands | Expanding | Cushman & Wakefield |
| Spain | Low thousands | Expanding | Bonard |
| Netherlands | Low thousands | Growing | Savills |
| Belgium | Under 2,000 | Modest pipeline | JLL |
Every figure above should be verified against the current report from JLL, Savills, Cushman & Wakefield or Bonard, since counts change each quarter. Added together, Europe's operational coliving stock runs to the tens of thousands of beds, with the pipeline suggesting that total could rise sharply. Belgium sits at the smaller end of the table, a scale the guide to coliving in Belgium puts in local context.
Which European Cities Lead the Coliving Market?
Seven cities lead the European coliving market by bed supply and operator presence. They are listed below.
- London — the deepest market, with the largest operational and pipeline supply
- Amsterdam — dense supply and strong operator competition
- Berlin — a fast-growing hub anchored by major operators
- Paris — expanding supply driven by domestic operators
- Madrid — a rising southern-European market
- Dublin — high demand against constrained housing supply
- Brussels — high per-capita saturation, driven by international demand around the EU institutions
City rankings vary between analysts and reporting years, so this order reflects general standing rather than a fixed league table. Brussels stands out less for absolute size than for density, which the overview of coliving in Brussels attributes to the international workforce concentrated in the capital.
Who Are the Main Coliving Operators in Europe?
A small group of pan-European operators controls much of the organised supply. The main coliving operators in Europe are compared in the table below.
| Operator | HQ | Cities | Approx. units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Habyt | Berlin | Multiple, pan-European | Largest, after acquiring Common in 2023 |
| Cohabs | Brussels | Brussels, Paris, others | Several thousand |
| Colonies | Paris | France, expanding | Low thousands |
| Urban Campus | Madrid | Spain, France | Low thousands |
| LifeX | Copenhagen | Nordics, Western Europe | Low thousands |
| The Social Hub | Amsterdam | Europe-wide, hybrid student | Large, hotel-hybrid |
Unit counts come from operator disclosures and trade press and should be verified against current figures, as the market consolidates rapidly. Habyt's 2023 acquisition of Common is the clearest sign of that consolidation, concentrating supply under fewer, larger brands.
Why Is Coliving Growing in Europe?
Coliving is growing in Europe for three structural reasons, each independent of the property cycle.
Urbanisation concentrates people in cities, where around 75% of Europeans now live according to Eurostat and UN estimates, tightening demand for housing exactly where land is scarcest.
Housing affordability has worsened as rents in European capitals have risen faster than incomes, on figures from Eurostat and the Deloitte Property Index, pushing residents toward shared, all-inclusive rooms that spread fixed costs.
Loneliness adds a social pull: a meaningful share of EU adults — in the low double digits by the Joint Research Centre's EU Loneliness Survey — report feeling lonely, and coliving markets community as part of the product. Each of these figures could shift with the source year, so read them as the direction of travel.
How Do Investors View European Coliving?
Investors increasingly view European coliving as an operational living asset class, sitting alongside build-to-rent (BTR) and purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA). The appeal is operational income: managed, service-heavy housing that can command a premium over plain rental.
Reported yields and forward-funding structures vary by city and asset, and the clearest read on them comes from JLL's European Living research, Savills' Operational Capital Markets updates and Cushman & Wakefield's European outlook reports. Institutional capital is moving into the sector because it behaves like operational real estate with a housing-shortage tailwind, though the specific return figures should be taken from the latest report rather than assumed.
What Do Market Forecasts Say About Coliving to 2030?
Market forecasts suggest European coliving could continue growing to 2030, with more beds, further operator consolidation and expansion beyond the capital cities. Analysts expect the sector to mature rather than plateau over the decade.
The global market could approach $42 billion by 2030 on the same projections cited earlier, a figure that would require sustained double-digit growth from today's base. These are forecasts, not facts, so they carry the usual uncertainty of any multi-year projection and should be framed as what analysts expect rather than what is guaranteed.
How Does the Belgian Market Compare to the European Average?
The Belgian market is a small but mature one, with per-capita coliving penetration in Brussels that could exceed the European average despite modest absolute size. Density, not scale, is what distinguishes it.
The driver is the international workforce around the EU institutions, which sustains demand for flexible, furnished rooms that few other mid-sized markets can match. Brussels rents sit in the mid-to-upper European band rather than at the extremes, a position the breakdown of coliving prices in Brussels sets against the affordability pressures pushing the whole sector forward.
Is Coliving a Growing Market in Europe?
Yes, coliving is a growing market in Europe, with rising investment volumes and bed pipelines across major cities. The growth is broad-based rather than confined to one country, tracking the double-digit expansion rate analysts report for the sector as a whole.
Will Coliving Replace Traditional Renting?
No, coliving will not replace traditional renting; it complements it as a flexible niche for internationally mobile residents. Coliving still accounts for a fraction of a percent of Europe's total housing stock, so it grows alongside the conventional rental market rather than displacing it.
