Real Estate Industry

What is Coliving in the UK?

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Creating a life in one of the UK’s many large (and expensive) cities can be a challenge, and finding a place to live is often the first hurdle in a series of obstacles that city living can create. But moving and what comes after — making friends, networking, exploring all the city has to offer — doesn’t have to be so hard. Enter coliving, a hassle-free way to make your home in the UK. Here’s how it works.


What is coliving in the UK?

Coliving offers renters all the best parts of shared living, with none of the downsides, and is popular in major cities as a means of convenient living for students, workers, digital nomads, or individuals who are relocating. Unlike traditional flats, coliving is attractive to tenants due to flexibility, included amenities, and a sense of community. In the UK, most coliving buildings offer fully-furnished studios with kitchenettes and access to larger, shared common areas. These can include everything from a living room to a coworking space or indoor pool.

Renters in the UK have chosen coliving for both the flexibility — many coliving buildings offer short term stays — and the community.


Coliving at Common

Where does Common fit in? Common is a trusted residential brand with over 5,000 tenants (we call them members) in 12 major cities across the United States. From New York to Los Angeles, we design and operate residential buildings for how today’s renters actually want to live, creating spaces that are easily shared, facilitate community, and make everyday city living easier. Over the next year, we’ll be opening our first ever London location, and are thrilled to bring the Common experience to renters in the UK.

Unlike a standard shared living situation — where renters have to find roommates, split the bills, and come to a consensus on furniture or television size — renters who choose coliving with Common receive one all-inclusive bill each month that covers utilities, household essentials, access to great amenities, discounts to national and local brands, and exclusive events alongside a fully-furnished, private space to call home.


The coliving experience

For Common members, coliving is the perfect blend of community and independence. When you’re itching to meet someone new, talk about your day, experience the city with a crowd, or just share a meal, you have a vibrant community at your fingertips. Living at Common easily allows you to meet new people at our exclusive events around the city, or just by hanging out in one of our many beautiful amenity spaces. And when it’s finally time to unwind, you have a private, comfortable space to retreat to.

This ideal balance makes it easy to take care of yourself while connecting with others. Add that to the convenience of coliving, and it’s no surprise that our members have made fast friends and strong connections to their cities.



Why coliving is growing so quickly

In the UK and across the world, life for the Millennial and Gen-Z generations looks very different from that of their parents and grandparents. People are getting married later, renting for longer, and pursuing higher degrees of education. While social change is a large factor in these shifts, stagnated wages and a higher cost of living have also contributed to young people around the world making delayed life decisions on marriage and starting a family. The consequence is a rental market that’s facing high demand.

In London, the housing market is especially competitive: ¼ of college graduates in the UK move to London, and the average renter spends 37% of their yearly income on rent. Coliving offers a viable solution to both the issue of finding attainable, comfortable housing (coliving is typically less expensive than a traditional studio or 1 bedroom flat) and the feelings of loneliness and isolation that city living can create.

Coliving allows anyone, from students and young professionals to millennials and baby boomers, to avoid the headaches when facing the real estate market and live stress-free. Rising in tandem with the coworking and ridesharing economies, coliving is the solution to the housing crisis in cities like London, New York, Barcelona, Los Angeles, and Dubai. The concept of coliving is now recognized all over the world, from Europe to Asia.

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