Permanently Temporary Living: Adapting to a Fluid, Renter-Focused Future

Through choice or circumstance, for a growing number of people who rent, hammering a nail into a wall to hang a picture, or drilling holes to put up a shower rail or shelving is not a possibility. Instead, every purchase they make to improve their living space has to be considered in the light of zero impact on their walls and floors.

At the same time, the instinct to better the space we live in is innate, so this cohort invests in the portable, temporary or disassemble-able, often challenging the pre-existing norms for home or room layout and seeking multi-function in each item, creating privacy in shared accommodation or applying temporary decoration to personalise their space.

It is predicted that the amount of people renting will only increase, with current figures released by BBC suggesting that the average number of viewing requests for each available rental property in England has surged to 20 in 2023, a threefold increase since 2019, as demand continues to outstrip supply and average rent soars.

Image: Elephant in a box

The demographic of renters is also expected to change as more people in their 20s and 30s continue to live with their parents whilst the amount of 65+ senior renters is forecast to double to over a million, impacting landlords with a potentially new set of needs to cater to.

The increased amount of re-locations and repeated dismantling and re-construction of
furniture has created a booming global service industry of professionals who take the burden off consumers, with a reported projected value of the Global Furniture Assembly Services market over $500 million by 2029.

In the meantime, the Ready-to-Assemble Furniture market is predicted to grow at a similar rate, reaching a projected $20 billion by 2031 from a current $14 billion in 2022.

For a more fluid approach to furnishing or accessorising a home, there are many successful businesses providing furniture, decorative items or clothes as a service - renting refurbished or curated collections that consumers have the flexibility to swap or scale up or down within a changeable budget or living space.

Image: Fernish

This subscription model may well soon include accommodation itself via flexible letting across a landlord’s portfolio of properties, giving consumers the benefit of using one landlord to service their multi location needs.

Weighing up changing human needs now and next with responsible material choices and creating sustainable fluid living services and products with genuinely positive impacts on our planet is something we’re honoured to be able to do for many of our clients who make a difference to everyday life for consumers.

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