Join us for the fifth Urban Living Festival - September 24 and 25 2025.
Venue TBC very soon - LONDON.
DISCOVER MORE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT URBAN LIVING IS HERE
The Urban Living Festival (ULF) focuses on the future of global urban living, addressing trends and innovations in residential, hospitality, and mixed-use real estate sectors. It brings together senior professionals, investors, developers, owners, operators, policymakers and service providers) to shape the future of:
- City living trends: Coliving, build-to-rent, PBSA, and later living
- Hospitality concepts: Lifestyle hotels, serviced apartments, extended stay, branded residences, hybrid accommodation, short term rentals and flex work
- Sustainability: Urban development practices, green technologies, and community well-being.
- Technology and innovation: Smart cities, proptech solutions, digital transformation in real estate and hospitality
The Urban Living Festival places a unique focus on the increasing blurred lines of staying, living and working across hospitality and real estate in urban environments.
- 120 thought leading owner, developer, operator speakers;
- 275+ quality attendance
- 51 sessions to challenge your thinking and spark new ideas.
- 5 full day breakout streams; 1 main plenary room;
- unlocking the neighbourhood hosted property tours (limited places)
- tailored exhibitor room - this is not a boring trade show!
- host of the second Urban Living Impact Awards - no cost to enter, no limit on amount of entries: submissions open July 1st.
DAY ONE
Hosted 'unlocking the neighbourhood' property tours. Meet owners, developers and operators as they showcase their cutting-edge properties across the living and hospitality sectors.
Numerous opportunities to learn, network and do business whilst celebrating best practice.
DAY TWO CONFERENCE
In addition to the main stage conversation, join over 120 thought leading speakers within 5 dedicated break-out content streams which includes the latest 'must know' presentations, panels and debates covering BTR, PBSA, coliving, later living, flex workspace, hotels and hospitality, and short-term rentals.
2025 will also host the second ever Urban Living Impact awards, a new initiative which celebrates people and projects which are leading the way in urban development.
George Sell, editor-in-chief at IHM, said: “I’m excited about ULF 2025 and curating an agenda that stands out due to its unique focus on the blurring boundaries between real estate sectors and addressing the intersections of living, working, and hospitality. The format allows us to deliver detailed and sharply focused content across a wide range of asset classes. The agenda will remain timely and relevant, addressing the issues that truly matter. The event also promises unparalleled opportunities for networking and learning, making it a must-attend for anyone connected in the future of urban living.”
SOME OF THE COMPANIES REPRESENTED AT 2024 URBAN LIVING FESTIVAL INCLUDE:-
AENDRE I Airbnb I AHV Associates I AIGAB I Amro Partners I AMN Architects I Apache Capital I ARC Club I Ascend Properties I Assael Architecture I Ask4 I Beaufort Capital Management I Beyond Apartments & Aparthotels I Bidwells I Birchgrove I Blackbird RE I Bob W I BNP Paribas Real Estate I Blueground I Built Asset Management I Canary Wharf Group I Cascade Communications I Cast Consultancy I Ciel Capital I Citra Living I CityHub I Coliving Ventures I Commercial Acceleration I CompassRock International I Considerate Group I Conscious Coliving I Courtier Capital I Cushman & Wakefield I Dandara Living I Dominic Grace Advisory I EQ Group I Etude Agency I Eversheds Sutherland I eviivo I Feel Porto I Flexible Space Association I Fladgate I Frasers Hospitality I Gateley Capitus I Global Apartment Advisors I Greystar I Harris Associates I Hewn I Hilltop Hospitality Advisors I HomeViews I Homes For Students I IMS Connect I Institute of Hospitality I Investec Bank I IRIS I Iterum I JCR advisors I KindHaus I Knight Frank I Konta Partners I Kooky I Lamington Group I Legal & General Suburban BTR I Lendlease I Lifestyle Hospitality Capital I Limitless I Lloyds Banking Group I LOFT I Matt PR I Mews I Monogram Living I Native Group I Orega I PeoplePlacesSpaces I Pinsent Masons I Placefirst I Plus X Innovation I POHA House I Praxis I PriceLabs I Pro-Invest Group I Quendoo I ReLiving I Realstar Corp |Remotelock | Riverstone | SAY Property Consulting I Shared Voice I Shoosmiths I Smart City Policy Group I Softbank Robotics I Spaces to Places I STR I StuRents.com I SUSD I Sykes Holiday Cottages I The Association for Rental Living (ARL) I The Bartlett Real Estate Institute I The Business Travel Association (BTA) I The Class Foundation I The Parkane Group I The Property Marketing Strategists I The Social Hub I TREASURESTS Hospitality GmbH I UK STAA I UKGBC I Untold Living I Urban Chic I Urban Land Institute I Urbanist Architecture I VALO Hotel&Work I Vertus I VervLife I Village Hotels I Virdee I Wheelhouse I YOSAA
Changing demographics, social and economic drivers are fuelling investor decisions across broader Urban Living asset classes. The 'age of convergence' blended across hospitality and real estate is happening at pace as we re-set and focus on the future different.
ULF places the spotlight directly on investment, development, supply, operations, brands, distribution, technology and demand generators. Curated with an intense focus on collaboration and debate, the festival brings CEO’s, ‘best of breed’ speakers and attendees, sponsors and solution providers to collectively share best practice, network, map the industry’s future and do business within:
STAY
- Hotels and serviced apartments
- Aparthotels / extended stay hotels
- Hostels
- Short-term rentals
LIVE
- Co-living
- Build-to-rent (BTR) and PBSA
- Later living
WORK
- The future of the office
- Flex workspace
- Sustainable Buildings
- PropTech
The market dynamics
Investor Interest in the Living Sector
Within a decade the living sectors will become the world’s most investible asset class with €23 billion heading for European living sectors by 2028. [Knight Frank]Urbanisation
- The proportion of the world's population living in urban areas is projected to increase from 57.34% (World Bank) today to 68% by 2050. [United Nations]
- A lack of new supply is the key theme for the global living sector in 2025 and beyond. Urban population growth will continue to drive demand for housing. [CBRE 2024]
- The value of UK living sectors is predicted to rise to £470bn by 2029 if supply shortfalls are addressed, according to a research by BNP Paribas Real Estate.
BTR
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- Investment in BTR for the first half of 2024 reached just over £2.6 billion - 38% up yoy. [UK - Knight Frank 2024]
- It is predicted that £102billion will be invested into the sector by 2028 [UK - Knight Frank 2024]
Coliving
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- The coliving sector has seen a surge in both delivery and investor interest [Knight Frank, 2024]
- 51% of European investors plan to be active in the sector, making it the joint third most invested-in living asset class, alongside later living, but behind BTR and PBSA. [UK/Europe - Savills 2024]
- The CoLiving Report 2024 says that investor appetite for coliving has been “robust”, with nearly £1 billion spent on acquiring or funding coliving developments since 2020.
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- Investment in the PBSA sector rose 245% yoy to £1.7 billon in 2024 [UK; BNP Paribas]
- According to data from Knight Frank, the UK market for PBSA is set to grow significantly, hitting a value of £104 billion by 2028.
- The fundamentals of the UK student housing market remain robust, driven by both international and domestic demand. Speaking at the ULF2024, Jonni Glick of Deutsche Finance International highlighted the UK’s positioning as a global education hub.
Flex workspace
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- A recent survey, anticipated the UK flex office market will grow to 54% of total office space by 2030. [UK infinitSpace, 2024]
- The global flexible office market size is projected to grow from USD 34.75 billion in 2023 to USD 96.77 billion by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of 15.76% over the forecast period. [Fortune Business Insights, Nov, 2024]
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- The global hotel industry's revenue is expected to grow by $85.5 billion between 2024 and 2029, reaching a peak of $511.91 billion in 2029. [Statista]
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- The vacation rental/short term rental market is expected to generate a revenue of US$100.20bn in the world in 2024. [Statista]
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- The UK senior living market is still in its infancy and the penetration rate is a fraction of what is seen in other mature markets (US, Australia and New Zealand) [CBRE, 2024]
- By 2034, the 65+ age group will account for 22% of the population in the UK. [CBRE,2024]
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- This potential demand pool for age-appropriate housing has prompted investors to take note.
- Despite the compelling demand dynamics, supply is lacking.
Hosted over two days, London will have the opportunity to showcase its status as a “living and breathing” world-class metropolitan hub for real estate investors, developers, owners and operators.
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