Spain Just Told Us Where Flex Living Is Heading. We Should Listen.
I sat down this week with two people who collectively have 55 years of experience in Spanish real estate. And both of them are all-in on flex living.
Araceli Martín-Navarro is the President of Coword, Spain’s most important flex living association. The platform connecting developers, operators, investors, and public administrations across the country. She’s spent 30+ years in real estate and financing, and founded Coword seven years ago when, as she puts it, “nobody in Spain, not even Google, could find a reference to the word coliving.”
Santiago Herreros de Tejada is Managing Partner at Planner Exhibitions, the company behind SIMA. Spain’s largest dedicated living and residential conference. And arguably Europe’s too. 27 editions. 21,000 visitors. 8,500 investors. 350 exhibitors. 35 countries. 200 speakers. 70 sessions.
The conversation was a masterclass in why Spain has become ground zero for European flex living investment. And what every operator, investor, and developer outside Spain should understand before entering this market.
“Flex Living Is Not a Trend. It’s a Response to How People Want to Live Today.”
Araceli opened with a framework that I think every coliving operator should internalise. Flex living, as Spain defines it, rests on three pillars:
Flexibility. People can stay for short or long periods depending on their situation. The rigid 12-month lease is a relic.
Private + Shared Spaces. Residents get their privacy AND enjoy common areas. It’s not one or the other.
Service + Community. This is the differentiator from traditional housing. Professional management, curated experiences, and genuine human connection.
What’s interesting about the Spanish approach is that they don’t treat coliving as a single category. Under the “flex living” umbrella, Spain distinguishes between coliving (for young professionals and digital nomads), co-housing (resident-owned or cooperative models), and senior living (55+ shared housing). Each one requires different architecture, different services, different community programming, and different regulation.
As Araceli puts it: “First, understand the people. How they want to live, how they connect, how they work. Then you design the space, the architecture, the model.” People first. Buildings second.
€17 Billion and 40% Pointed at Living
Here’s the number that should get every investor’s attention.
Santiago shared that €17 billion was invested in Spanish real estate in 2025. That’s a 30% increase over 2024. And of that total, approximately 35-40% went into living assets. Not offices. Not retail. Not logistics. Living.
That makes living the single largest asset class for investment in Spain right now.
And this isn’t just domestic capital. The international funds are here. BlackRock, Blackstone, Praemia, Heinz, Greystar. All present at SIMA, all actively deploying into Spanish living assets. Goldman Sachs just completed its acquisition of Urban Campus. Colonies locked in €1 billion from Ares Management. Greystar acquired 2,000 beds for €300 million.
Santiago called Spain “the Florida of Europe.” The lifestyle, the climate, the culture, the infrastructure, the connectivity, the cost of living, the quality of healthcare. It all adds up to a value proposition that makes international capital flow almost inevitable.
The Regulation Question: Madrid Says Yes, Barcelona Says Not So Fast
Every international investor I speak to asks the same question about Spain: “What about the regulations?”
Araceli was refreshingly honest. Spain’s laws are conservative and were not designed for flex living models. The regulatory framework is in transformation. And the speed of that transformation varies dramatically by city.
Madrid is leading. The city’s administration has been open and collaborative with Coword and other industry actors. Madrid is actively converting office buildings into living and coliving. That’s a significant policy signal. The Comunidad de Madrid and the Ayuntamiento de Madrid both understand the new models. They’re even exploring social coliving, a concept where public administration partners with operators to deliver affordable shared housing. That one really got my attention.
Barcelona is a different story. As we covered extensively in Edition #82, mass protests have halted coliving evictions, the Catalan government is threatening €90,000+ fines for displacement-model conversions, and the political environment is increasingly hostile to anything perceived as converting existing residential stock for higher-yield short-term rentals.
The nuance matters. Barcelona isn’t anti-coliving. It’s anti-displacement. Purpose-built coliving that adds housing supply is still welcome. Converting existing apartments and displacing long-term tenants is not.
For operators evaluating the Spanish market, the regulatory picture is manageable. But only if you approach it correctly. Coword’s role as the bridge between operators and public administration is critical. And SIMA provides the platform where these conversations happen face-to-face.
SIMA 2026: The Event Every Flex Living Professional Should Attend
This is not a paid promotion. I’m saying this because I genuinely believe it.
SIMA 2026, May 20-23 in Madrid, is the largest dedicated living and residential conference in Europe. And this year, for the first time ever, flex living gets its own dedicated space inside the exhibition.
Here’s what makes SIMA different from every other industry event:
It’s 100% focused on living. Not real estate broadly. Not commercial. Not logistics. Just living. Residential, flex living, senior living, student housing, build-to-rent. Every session, every exhibitor, every investor is there for living.
The investor density is unmatched. 8,500 investors. BlackRock, Blackstone, Praemia, Heinz, Greystar. They’re not just speaking on panels. They’re in the rooms making deals.
The International Living Conference runs five tracks:
Affordability & Housing
Global Living Markets
Living Investor’s Day
Asset Classes & Insights (including flex living deep-dives)
Technology & Innovation
The new Flex Living Space, organised in collaboration with Coword, gives operators, investors, and developers a dedicated area to meet, learn, and exchange ideas about coliving, co-housing, and senior living models. This is the first time SIMA has created a space specifically for flex living. That tells you something about where the industry is heading.
The scale is serious. 21,000 visitors. 350 exhibitors. 5,000 represented companies. 35 countries. 200 speakers. 70 sessions.
Free SIMA Tickets for Everything Coliving Readers
We’ve partnered with SIMA to offer our readers access to the International Living Conference (normally €400+):
First 20 readers: FREE tickets (€400 value) Next 20 readers: 50% discount Next 20 readers: 25% discount
To claim yours: Email mayank@everythingcoliving.com with the subject line “SIMA 2026” and we’ll send you your access details.
Whether you’re an operator exploring the Spanish market, an investor evaluating flex living opportunities, a service provider looking to pitch your product, or a developer seeking partnerships. SIMA is where the deals happen.
What I Took Away from This Conversation
Three things stood out to me.
Spain is doing something no other country is doing at scale. Having a country-specific living conference of this size, with public administration, institutional investors, operators, and developers in the same room, is infrastructure that every country needs but almost none have. I’ve been saying this for years. Country-specific living conferences are the missing piece of industry infrastructure worldwide. Global conferences are great, but you cannot solve country-specific regulatory and market challenges at a global event.
The “people first” framework is right. Araceli’s insistence that you start with understanding how people want to live, before you design buildings, choose business models, or write investment memos, sounds obvious. It’s not. Most operators start with the property. The best ones start with the person.
The regulatory conversation has to happen proactively. Coword’s approach of working directly with public administration, educating them on the differences between coliving, co-housing, and senior living, explaining the technical requirements, advocating for appropriate regulation, that is the only sustainable path. Operators who wait for regulation to happen to them will lose. Operators who shape the conversation will win.
Free Tools & Resources for Coliving Operators
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From the Everything Coliving Platform
Everything Coliving Podcast This week: Inside Spain’s Flex Living Boom with Araceli Martín-Navarro (Coword) and Santiago Herreros de Tejada (SIMA). Listen on Spotify → · Watch on YouTube →
Live Research Our industry-first real-time dataset is growing. Take the 3-minute survey and access live benchmarking data instantly. Contribute & View Results →
Global Coliving Report The most comprehensive data-driven analysis of the coliving industry, covering market trends, growth strategies, and best practices from 20+ countries. Access the Report →
One More Thing
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Until next time,
Mayank Pokharna Everything Coliving · BookMyColiving · LinkedIn
Everything Coliving’s mission is to positively impact the lives of 10 million people by helping them find better, more connected, and affordable places to live.
