Coliving fever sweeps France. At long last. Faced with an unmet demand for housing, the breakdown of traditional family models and a pressing need for services, the shared housing model seems to tick a lot of residential real estate boxes. It's a compromise that brings supply and demand closer together. That of the business model, the contours of which are now taking shape. As an alternative for real estate investors, while we wait to prove that this is a market of the future.
First and foremost, there's the housing shortage, which nothing and no one seems to be curbing. Experts now agree that there is a shortfall of 1 million homes in our country. Coliving won't be able to fill this gap, but it will certainly help to broaden the range of residential products, adding another link to a chain that's decidedly tight.
Then there's the breakdown of family models. Decohabitation, professional and family mobility...: coliving embodies a response to new ways of living together at a time when the epidemic of solitude is at its height. Not just for young people and young professionals, coliving is spreading to all generations, including seniors. There's no doubt that colocation 2.0 is emerging as a tool to support transitional phases of life.
Finally, the inexorable need for services is the third foundation of the coliving market model. All-inclusive housing" appeals to users who see in all-inclusive real estate a form of response to the slippage of housing and home equipment expenses in a necessary overall cost logic.
So, is coliving - whose real birth date is 2021 - an asset like any other, an asset class in its own right? As with all emerging markets, market data is unstable, ranging from 8,500 units to over 15,000 in France today, with an estimated 25,000 in two years' time. In any case, one thing is certain: two major models coexist, between the human-scale houses and the ocean liners that have taken a few steps ahead. All the hallmarks of a structured market are present.
What remains is concentration... which is bound to awaken the interest of investors and bankers. Seeking alternatives to the "all-office" approach, or solutions to the chronic housing shortage, these investors are beginning to make serious inroads, even if volumes are struggling to take off. Yield differentials and IRR projections should convince them, especially in these uncertain times for traditional real estate assets.