As part of its latest Global Living research, Savills has identified the cities and regions in Europe that in five years’ time will be particularly ‘youthful’, having the largest share of people aged 20-39, and those that will be the most ‘aged’, with the highest number of people aged 65 or older. The global real estate advisor expects this to drive an increase in demand for purpose-built student housing, co-living, and multifamily in ‘youthful’ cities, as well as senior housing and housing with care in ‘aged’ ones.

By country, the UK will have the most ‘youthful’ cities in 2026 (22), followed by Germany (18) and France (14). Germany will be the country with the most ‘aged’ cities (25), with France (15) and Italy (14) making up the top three.

“These two groups are not mutually exclusive. Germany may be home to the most ‘aged’ cities in Europe, but it is also home to the second-largest number of youthful cities. Scale is an important factor too. The number of 20-39-year-olds in Berlin, for example, is lower only than London and Paris in Western Europe,” Paul Tostevin, Director in Savills World Research team, said.

Demographic trends in Poland, though often considered grim, can spur new opportunities for real estate investors. 

“Poland takes fourth place among countries with the largest expected number of ‘aged’ cities within next five years. Eleven ‘aged’ cities set us ahead of some Western European countries, such as Spain or Netherlands but also make Poland stand out in the CEE. In the forthcoming years this can translate into attractive investment opportunities for international investors as there is an undersupply of quality senior living assets,” Jacek Kałużny, Associate Director, Residential Capital Markets, Savills Poland, said.

In his opinion, on the other hand, Poland still boasts a number of ‘youthful’ cities such as Kraków or Wroclaw, that will undoubtedly attract new investors interested in operational assets, such as student housing or residential.

(WBJ)