Co-living: a trend that is taking hold

Co-living: a trend that is taking hold

In a changing world, co-living appears as one solution among those that matter. As in other big cities and after a more cautious start, co-living has arrived in Brussels and is taking root there for a long time, with expats first of all but also with young active Belgians.

This new form of shared accommodation, which is aimed at an age group ranging from 25 to 40 years old, differs from the old forms of space sharing by a side that is both relatively luxury and by a public ideally grouping together by affinities. , allowing a more fluid cohabitation.

While for a time the few Belgian players in the market managed few houses and rooms, they are now at the dawn of major projects which will take on their full scale in 2021-2022.

Three main players share the Brussels market

With a lot of similarities but also some differences in approach.

COLIVE has made the choice, until today, not to own the properties they offer in co-living. He rents them out to sublet them, which allows them to grow very quickly. But their strategy is evolving and Colive is now looking to balance their rentals with purchases.

COHABS, present in Brussels but also more recently in New York, buys the properties it operates, with one exception: the Passage du Nord project. This small gallery between Rue Neuve and Place De Brouckère remains the property of the current company, Cohabs benefiting from a 27-year long lease to create the largest co-living in Belgium: 64 rooms divided into 4 communities. An investment of 4 million euros will allow the first rooms to be created there in the next two years.

The third model, that of IKOAB, does not use institutional investors but individuals who remain owners. Present in Brussels, Liège and Charleroi, Ikoab therefore offers rooms in pretty houses and contracts ranging from 3 to 6 months, with the possibility of extending them and taking up residence there if necessary.

The start-up offers owners a tailor-made service: search for the property, supervision of renovation and development work, rental management and a yield that varies between 6 and 10%. With the great advantage for the investor of being able at any time to terminate the management contract and take back his property.

Magic model, solution to all problems?

In any case, co-living is a new way of experiencing rental in large cities and forces the classic players in the rental market to renew themselves, to take into account the new lifestyles and the desires of young workers.

A well-managed community will reduce the chances of problems between co-universes; a well-thought-out community will concentrate within it people who, having one or more common interests (s), will be more inclined to get along.

There is not yet a thematic co-living in Brussels, if this is not the general idea of the young worker who does not want to live alone. This is where the future challenge lies in knowing how to create communities around a common point, a hobby or simply a field of activity. These spaces will no longer only offer accommodation and connection - real or virtual - they will be genuinely constantly animated and allow these mini social groups to come together according to common interests.

Whether they are big players, like those mentioned above, or private owners wishing to embark on the adventure on their own, this is the path shared housing will take in the coming years. So that the new co-living really resembles communities, work, but also hobbies or passions.