UK Living Sectors Yield Benchmark
Where coliving actually prices against the sectors an investment committee already understands. Sixteen sub-markets, one published table, read from the source document rather than from somebody's summary of it.
16 sub-markets2 moved in the monthPage updated 4 September 2026
The finding
Prime London coliving prices at 4.25% — inside prime London student accommodation on a direct let, which moved out to 4.50% in November 2025 while coliving held. The sector still describes itself as pricing wider than its established siblings. Against student, in London, it no longer does.
Prime net initial yields across UK living sectors, November 2025
Axis 3.5% – 5.5% · not zero-based
Moved out from 4.25% during November 2025.
Moved out from 5.00%–5.25% during November 2025.
Axis starts at 3.5% so the spread is visible. Highlighted bars are co-living. Tighter yields sit at the top — a lower number means the market values that income more highly.
Source: Knight Frank — Prime Yield Guide, November 2025 (prepared 30 November 2025, PDF)
The full published table
| Sector | Sub-market | Nov 2025 | One-month change | Sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build to Rent | Zone 1 London prime | 3.90% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Build to Rent | Zone 2 London prime | 4.00% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Single Family Housing | South East | 4.00% | unchanged | POSITIVE |
| Student Property | Prime London — 25yr lease, annual RPI | 4.00% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Build to Rent | Zones 3–4 London prime | 4.15% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Co-Living | Prime London | 4.25% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Build to Rent | Greater London prime | 4.25% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Build to Rent | South East prime | 4.25% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Student Property | Prime Regional — 25yr lease, annual RPI | 4.25% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Build to Rent | Tier 1 regional cities | 4.50% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Student Property | Prime London — direct let | 4.50% | out from 4.25% | STABLE |
| Single Family Housing | Regional | 4.50% | unchanged | POSITIVE |
| Build to Rent | Tier 2 regional cities | 4.75% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Co-Living | Prime Regional | 5.00% | unchanged | STABLE |
| Seniors Housing | Prime South East | 5.25% | unchanged | NEGATIVE |
| Student Property | Prime Regional — direct let | 5.25%–5.50% | out from 5.00%–5.25% | STABLE |
Yields are reflective of optimum-sized, income-focused transactions of prime, stabilised, institutional-grade assets, provided on a net initial yield basis assuming a rack-rented property. Indicative only; prepared 30 November 2025.
What the table says
Coliving now prices inside prime London student accommodation
Prime London co-living held at 4.25% through November 2025. Prime London PBSA on a direct let moved out from 4.25% to 4.50% in the same month — the only movement anywhere in the guide that month, alongside its regional equivalent. For most of 2025 the two sat level. They no longer do, and co-living is now the tighter of the two.
The co-living discount to build-to-rent is 35 basis points, not a chasm
Prime London co-living at 4.25% against Zone 1 build-to-rent at 3.90%. That is the entire premium the market currently demands for operational intensity and a shorter institutional track record in the capital. Regionally the gap is wider: prime regional co-living at 5.00% against Tier 1 regional BTR at 4.50%.
Nothing moved except student, and only in one direction
Across sixteen sub-markets, exactly two shifted between October and November 2025 — both student direct-let, both outward by 25 basis points. Every other line, co-living included, was unchanged for the full period from November 2024. This is a repricing in one sector, not a living-sectors repricing.
Sentiment splits three ways, and co-living is in the middle
Single family housing is the only sector carrying positive market sentiment in the guide; seniors housing is the only one carrying negative. Everything else — co-living, build-to-rent, and student — is marked stable. Stable is not a criticism: for an emerging asset class it means the market has stopped repricing you every quarter.
What this does not tell you
These are prime, stabilised, institutional-grade assets on a net initial yield basis. A converted six-bed HMO in a regional town does not price on this curve and nothing here should be used to value one. What the table is genuinely useful for is the relationship between sectors — which is the question an investment committee actually asks when it compares co-living to the alternatives it already understands.
Our reading, not the guide's
The context those yields sit in
UK co-living operational units
~9,000
Entering 2025, with ~3,300 delivered during 2024
UK build-to-rent completed homes
147,670
Q1 2026, up 13% year on year, ~47,000 under construction
Institutions intending to enter UK co-living
45%
Within four years, per Knight Frank's investor survey
EMEA living-sector investment
€62.2bn
2025 total across the living sectors
How this was built
Every yield on this page comes from one document: Knight Frank's Prime Yield Guide as prepared on 30 November 2025. We read the published PDF rather than a secondary summary, which matters here — several of these figures circulate in the sector with the wrong sub-market attached, and the student direct-let movement is routinely missed.
We have reproduced the table rather than selecting from it. Presenting only the lines that flatter coliving would be the easy version and would make the page worthless to anyone deciding between sectors.
The findings below the table are ours. Where a reading goes beyond what the guide states, it is marked as our reading. We do not sell investment products and we take no payment from anyone named on this page.
Citing this page
The underlying yields are Knight Frank's and should be cited to them. If you are citing our arrangement or analysis of them:
StartColiving, “UK Living Sectors Yield Benchmark”, 4 September 2026. https://startcoliving.com/data/uk-yield-benchmark/ — underlying data: Knight Frank Prime Yield Guide, November 2025.
Sources
Coliving vs build-to-rent, in full
Read →
Coliving vs student accommodation
Read →
Raising capital for a coliving business
Read →
UK Coliving Entry Cost Index
Read →
Why we publish this
Yields are where the investment case and the operating plan meet. We read the source tables ourselves because the summaries circulating in the sector disagree with them.
StartColiving is a marketing and advisory team working only in coliving — 18+ brands over 8+ years, plus a marketplace of our own. The research on this site is free and stays free; it is how we show our working rather than a lead magnet with a form in front of it.