Co-living spaces are much more than just a fancy way of saying flat share, they have evolved as places to both live and work, as well as socialise with like-minded people, often featuring co-working spaces and other facilities more like that of a hotel.
One of the reasons that many are drawn to co-living is the flexibility it offers too – enabling you to sign up for the amount of time you wish instead of being locked into a one-year or more contract.
Units are typically offered for stays starting from three months, a situation which is not possible for many places to rent in Spain.
For these reasons, co-living spaces are particularly popular with digital nomads – allowing them to meet other nomads, have a quality working space and the flexibility of being able to move on to their next destination whenever they want. There are also benefits such as wi-fi already being installed and all bills included.
But it’s not just nomads that are attracted to this way of living, it’s also popular with students, those working in startups and people who regularly travel for work to other cities who don’t want to have to stay in a hotel every time.
Experts say that the typical profile is usually that of young professionals around 30 years old (although in recent months, ages have increased to 40 years old), who work in startups, and consultancies, and are digital nomads.
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In recent years the average age of a person staying in this type of accommodation has grown due to high rental prices, which in the last ten years have increased on average by more than 50 percent, according to a study by the Fotocasa portal.
In the first half of 2023, investment in co-living spaces reached close to €75 million and the number of beds available has quadrupled in the last three years.
According to data from the consulting firm CBRE, co-living represented 31 percent of the investments made in the first half of the year within Flex Living, a subsector within the residential industry that groups new temporary housing solutions under the concept of flexibility. In 2022, the sector turned over of €433 million with a total of 8,000 beds and expects another 2,000 more by the end of the year.
By 2025, Flex Living will double to almost 20,000 beds.
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Currently, 75 percent of these co-living spaces are in Madrid and Barcelona, but there are growing projects in Valencia, Málaga and the Basque Country, according to CBRE.
Some Spaniards are angry at the increase in co-living spaces - as they are with the proliferation of short-term holiday rentals - believing that the use of this anglicism (el coliving in Spain) is only meant to make it sound 'cool' to camouflage the fact that people cannot afford to rent their own place and are being forced to share with others.
While the rise in co-living spaces may potentially be contributing to the lack of traditional properties for rent as landlords are able to make more money from the short-term market, the reality is that most of these are in fact more expensive than regular flat shares.
Therefore, they’re not necessarily a viable alternative for those struggling to pay rent. These low-pay tenants are more likely to go for traditional flat shares to help save on money rather than opting for a fancier co-living space.
According to stats from Pisos.com, the average price for renting a room in Spain is €405 per month.
This price rises in some of Spain’s most expensive cities with flat share website Badi stating the average rental price per room in Barcelona is at €500 per month and news site Catalan El Nacional saying it’s up €631 per month.
In Madrid, according to Badi, the average is around €450 per month.
Just a few examples of popular co-living spaces in Spain include Urban Campus Coliving and Kanso Coliving in Madrid, Attico Living in Barcelona.
When The Local Spain took a look at some of the prices of rooms in these co-living spaces we found the average price for a room in Kanso Coliving to be around €625 per month, €175 more than the average price for a traditional flat share in Madrid.
At Attico Living in Barcelona, many rooms were above €900 per month, which far exceeds the €500-631 you would pay in a regular flat share.
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Of course with the higher price tags, come more benefits than just flexibility, for example, some coliving places even add cleaning services, while Kanso Coliving founders say they want to give even more benefits such as gym, co-working and even a relaxation or meditation room.
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