It’s an opportunity for many insurance brands, as older house sharers may well have a need for gadget, bicycle or vehicle cover, plus products like income protection or healthcare insurance. New insight from COHO, the HMO management platform, reveals that an estimated 11.5% of people in shared living properties are aged 40+, and that Southampton is the UK’s over-40 shared living hotspot. Here’s the word;
While house sharing is most commonly associated with young people – from students through to young professionals making their first forays into the world of work – internal data from COHO reveals that the shared living is actually far more diverse than most people would think.
COHO canvassed 4,500 who describe their current living situation as house sharing and found that 11.5% of them are aged 40 or above.
Of those over-40s, 55.7% describe themselves as male, and 44.1% female.
COHO’s data also reveals that Southampton is the UK’s over-40 house sharing hotspot, with the coastal city accounting for 20.2% of all people aged 40+ who lived in shared accommodation.
The second largest proportion are located in London (19.8%), followed by Leeds (4.9%), Manchester (4.5%), Portsmouth (4.1%), Coventry (3.5%), Birmingham (3.1%), Plymouth (3.1%), Reading (2.9%), and Oxford (2.7%).
COHO Founder and CEO, Vann Vogstad, commented:
“Modern co-living is a world apart from what it used to be. For decades, HMOs have been associated with young people who are looking for an affordable home while they find their way in the world, or those who simply can’t let go of the hedonistic days of university. Today, this simply isn’t true.
Co-living has evolved into a lifestyle choice rather than an economic necessity, and we’re seeing more and more people in their 30s, 40s, and even 50s actively choosing to live with housemates.
Back in the day, any over-40 choosing to live in a shared house ran the very real risk of ending up with housemates half their age who assigned them the nickname of ‘Father Time’ or referred to them as ‘my second mum’.
But today, COHO places housemate compatibility at the heart of everything, giving people deep insight into their prospective housemates, from basic things like age and professions all the way through to more nuanced stuff like interests and lifestyles. Therefore, any slightly more mature house sharer can make sure they’re moving into a property with people they are well-suited to live with.
Trust me, It won’t be long at all before house sharing for over 40 is considered an absolute norm. It’s the modern way.”
Data tables and sources
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