The formality once associated with business-class real estate has given way to functionality and a sense of community. That shift tracks with a broader generational change.
Today, a lot of business leaders are young - somewhere between 25 and 40. Millennials now hold leadership roles, run their own companies, and occupy well-paid specialist positions in large numbers. This generation isn't in a rush to settle down with a family or a mortgage - they're mobile, and ready to relocate to a new city or country at any point. Given that, millennials tend to be genuinely selective about where they live. Sustainable materials, open floor plans, energy-efficient systems, and solid infrastructure top their list of priorities.
The sharing economy runs on one core idea: use it, don't own it. It's already powering plenty of business models that make daily life easier - car sharing, coworking, rentals of every kind.
Coworking, as most people know, is a shared space where professionals from different companies and industries come to work. It's a solid alternative for anyone who can't focus at home but doesn't want a traditional office either. People pay for their workspace and get access to everything they need - internet, amenities, conference rooms for presentations, and more. These spaces tend to bring together people with similar outlooks and ideas, and coworking is especially popular among freelancers and tech workers. Ukraine adopted the model roughly five years ago.
Coliving Follows the Same Logic
Coliving (co-living) runs on a similar idea - the desire to be around people who think alike, who share a similar wavelength. The concept is already well established among young professionals and entrepreneurs in major cities across Europe, North America, and Asia, often connected through shared work or professions.
The modern coliving concept traces back to 2006, when a group of colleagues in Silicon Valley were forced to share housing due to high rent. What sets this kind of arrangement apart from Soviet-era communal apartments is intent - people here are united by shared interests and priorities, not necessity. Research has even shown that this kind of shared living can boost overall wellbeing.
For anyone who doesn't want to be tied down to one place and stays in near-constant motion, coliving is a genuinely good option - functional and interesting at once. It builds connections across different walks of life, helps people make friends, and creates a space to share ideas with people who can actually appreciate them. It's also a solid way to reduce rent, though that's not always the top priority for the people who choose it, since coliving tenants tend to be fairly well-off to begin with.
In buildings like these, 25-30% of the space is shared common area. Units come in several formats - shared, private, and various comfort tiers - and the buildings themselves are built around everything residents need for learning, fitness, entertainment, and rest.
IT professionals are especially common users of this housing format. Large companies will sometimes house their employees in a single building to streamline how their teams work together - a setup that works particularly well for people with flexible schedules.
Most coliving spaces - about 90% - are located in Asia, primarily China, India, and Singapore. The US accounts for 5%, Europe for 6%, with the UK leading the way among European countries. Even through pandemic-era restrictions, demand for this kind of housing held steady - living among like-minded people helps keep isolation at bay. Ukraine doesn't have any coliving spaces yet, but as the local IT industry keeps growing, it's reasonable to expect this housing format to show up in Kyiv before long.
