Eighty per cent of European living sector investors expect to increase their allocation to the sector over the next five years, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s new European Living Investor Survey 2025 report.
The report, which incorporates the views of institutional investors responsible for managing more than €1.4tn in global commercial real estate assets, found purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and the private rental sector (PRS) are the top targets for investors.
PRS accounted for €33bn of the circa €45bn invested in the European living sector last year with a further €6bn invested in PBSA. The latter is the top near-term target for investors, with 75% planning to increase their exposure to the PBSA sector over the next three years.
Last year, nearly 90% of investors were looking to deploy capital into PRS/BTR over the next few years, but this has fallen to 73% in 2025. Investor appetite for senior living also declined.
Co-living emerged as the fastest-growing segment, with 44% of respondents expecting to invest in the sector by 2028, up from 33% today.
The survey found investors are most attracted to the UK market, with Spain replacing Germany as the second most favoured market. France, Italy and Portugal all moved up in investors’ ranking of preferred geographies, with Ireland and the Nordics moving marginally down the rankings.
Patrick Hogan, head of EMEA living capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Living investments offer stability and diversification to investors, as well as generating social value which helps them achieve ESG-linked objectives. Our survey underlines that core European markets remain a primary focus for investors at this stage of the cycle with a diverse range of capital active in the market currently, concentrating primarily on liquid European markets. As a result, we expect living markets to move into a new expansion phase during 2025.”
Tom McCabe, head of EMEA living research and insight at Cushman & Wakefield, added: “The fact that investors expect to increase their allocations to the living sector over the medium term, extending across a wider variety of segments is a promising sign for the sector’s growth and evolution. Yet nothing is perfect, and pricing mismatches, viability and political change are all causing challenges. Overall, however, the mood music is positive, with encouraging signs that investment in EMEA’s living sector is set to ramp up in the years to come.”
