COLIVING - en boendeform för framtiden?

Sammanfattning: The housing market in Sweden in general, and in Stockholm in particular, is characterized by a vast shortage and the average waiting time for acquiring a contract to lease an apartment in sought after areas is a decade or more. Adding to the situation, high prices for buying an apartment in the city has raised the threshold for those standing outside the real estate market wanting to get in. A group affected by the aforementioned situation is young people, whose average level of wealth is relatively low and thus are facing the dilemma of either endure years queuing for an apartment to lease, or endeavor to break in to a market they can not afford. It is a difficult predicament and a definitive solution is absent, but it can be concluded that something needs to be done in response to the changing market conditions. Surveys have shown a raise in environmental awareness among the population in Sweden. Furthermore, young Stockholm-based adults request shared housing, and many prefer sharing resources in general rather than individual ownership. The concept of coliving follows in the footsteps of these theories, as it is focusing on community-based living and is efficient in terms of space and other resources. The aim of the study is to analyze the underlying incentives to organize housing projects in line with coliving and in what way the concept can be considered as a sustainable form of housing. Furthermore, the study aims to examine which inherent market conditions that need to be in place for the concept to gain traction and grow into a common form of housing. In extension, the study also maps the interest among housing producers towards coliving. The study is sponsored by Sweco Management and delimited to focus on Stockholm and young adults. By utilizing a qualitative research approach and method consisting of an interview study the outcome is that the underlying incentives for coliving are higher levels of social integration, efficient use of resources, and the housing shortage. Furthermore, the study found that coliving can be regarded as sustainable in two out of three researched aspects, social and ecological. The study also found that fundamental prerequisites that needs to be fulfilled for coliving to gain traction on the market are unitary definition of the concept, legal adaptation, demand from the population, reasonable prices of land and digital tools. Finally, the attitude towards coliving among housing producers can, according to this study, be described as curious. However, their position on this matter is somewhat passive. There are uncertainties regarding tenure, construction and demand that needs to be addressed before the housing producers will invest in these types of projects.