Changing demographics, social and economic drivers are fuelling investor decisions putting a greater focus on Urban Living asset classes:

• Hotels and serviced apartments
• Aparthotels / extended stay hotels
  • Hostels and co-living
  • Build-to-rent (BTR) and student accommodation
• Short-term rentals
• Assisted living
• Co-working
  • Healthy Buildings, sustainability and wellness
  • PropTech

Incorporating IHM events: Boutique and Lifestyle Hotel Summit; Serviced Apartment Summit Europe; and the ENGAGE corporate travel buyer forum, ULF places the spotlight directly on investment, development, supply, operations, brands, distribution and demand generators in the age of convergence.
The market
• 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, this is expected to reach 68% by 2050.

• In 1950, 79% of the UK population lived in cities; this will rise to 92.2% by 2030.
• 40% of the urban areas required by 2030 are not yet built.
Sub-sectors
Student Housing
• 1.7m students are studying full time in the UK with applications rising 7% year-on-year. • International student numbers have grown by 70% in the last ten years.
Build-to-rent & PRS
• The number of build-to-rent homes in the UK has increased by 30% in 12 months. (The British Property Federation / Savills, April 2018)

• The UK rental market will grow by 2 million+ by 2030, driven primarily by 'Generation Rent'

Co-living & co-working
Landlords and developers now creating spaces for particular demographic groups.
• Demand drivers are housing shortage, rising housing costs ageing population & more mobile working population.
Serviced apartments
• Global apartment totals have reached 1,096,547 with the number of destinations/locations up 22%.
Short-term rentals
• UK Airbnb listings rose by 200% between 2015 and 2017 (Residential Landlords Association)

• Global vacation rental market will close in on £170 billion by 2019. (Research and Markets)
Assisted living
• Global ambient assisted living market to reach USD 13.74 billion by 2027 • Demand drivers include costly complex/health care needs.
Apartment Living
• 4.6 million new apartments are needed by 2030 to meet US demand for rental living • In 2017, apartment completions topped 345,000, up 21% on 2016.

PropTech
• 93% believe "Traditional real estate organisations need to engage with PropTech companies in order to adapt to the changing global environment" (KPMG Global PropTech Survey 2018)