Business concept for some, solution of the future for others. No matter what you think of it, coliving, this type of habitat halfway between shared accommodation and a hotel, is attracting more and more people, especially young people.
An investigation commissioned by Whoomies, a roommate, coliving and student residence reservation platform, and carried out by the Internet survey site YouGov, confirms this trend: 66% of millennials, i.e. the 18-34 age group years, consider that coliving is the answer to the challenges of modern cities, 44% of them would be ready to live in coliving. A figure that rises to 52% in Ile-de-France. “After the first confinement, we recorded 30% more monthly requests! There is an increasingly strong desire not to live alone and not to stay in a studio, ”notes Lauren Dannay, co-founder of Whoomies.
A choice that made it possible to “live better” with confinement
Co-living provides access to furnished and equipped common areas (lounges, dining room, kitchen, sometimes gym, cinema, garden, etc.), while maintaining privacy with a personal bedroom, sometimes backed by a shower and private toilets. Services, such as cleaning, are often included, in addition to a water-electricity-Internet “package”.
Claire Flurin, co-founder of the professional association C o-Liv, also director of research and development at Keys Asset Management, also notes a craze for the formula: “It is clearly developing and containment has played a role. We have seen an influx of residents from poorly managed shared flats. However, co-living is managed by a professional. It is he who regulates the administrative side, the possible problems, it is he who can impose a sanitary protocol. You don’t end up in an atmosphere of disrespect or the feeling of being stuck. “
The loneliness felt during confinement is also a lever. Among the reasons for choosing a co-living, community life comes in second place (31%) among 18-34 year olds. “We surveyed our users after the first confinement: 96% of them consider that living in co-living enabled them to live better during this period. It’s unequivocal, ”continues Lauren Dannay. Services and simplified housing access procedures account for 17%, behind the possibility of having better located housing (27%) and especially far behind the fact of benefiting from an attractive rent (60%).
From 400 to 1300 euros approximately per room
Some prices may however seem unaffordable to many, because if you find rooms from 399 euros at Flatmates, a coliving complex located in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) and attached to Station F (a huge start-up campus in Paris), the cost can climb up to 1,300 euros for a room in a residence in Paris.
It all depends on the location and the services offered. Colonies, one of the precursors of the sector, around twenty open residences, the double to come, thus offers rooms from 600 euros in Marseille, 700 euros in Lille, 650 euros in Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint- Denis), 1200 euros in Paris… “It includes the rent as well as the insurance, water, electricity, heating, Internet, cleaning, sheets, towels […]. This amount of services represents between 250 and 300 euros per month. This is basically what people pay for these charges. Except that there, everything is included, they have nothing to do and they have access to quality common spaces, ”explains Amaury Courbon, co-founder of Colonies.
