Come 2023 and the co-living sector is expected to fire all cylinders. Reeling under the impact of Covid-19 during 2020 and most parts of 2021, co-living along with the student housing segment has now got a new lease of life as most of the offices abandoned ‘work from home’ and colleges & educational institutes re-commenced physical classes in the year 2022. With normalcy returning, the demand for flexible living is set to gather further pace in the coming years.
“The sector has attracted investment of over 1.0 billion USD between 2015 and 2019. After the slowdown of two years, there is now a renewed interest in the sector with big-ticket investments expected. With most of the companies ending their ‘Work from Home’ policy and all educational campuses buzzing with students, the inventory of beds is expected to grow by 30% by 2025,” says Subhankar Mitra, Managing Director, Advisory Services, India at Colliers.
“At this point in time, there are about 20 top players in the Co-living and Student Housing market, which has an existing Pan India capacity of over 300,000 beds as of now. Most of the top players are present in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, followed by Pune and Mumbai. Start-ups are targeting the co-living market while the bigger players are looking for more tie-ups with universities,” he adds.
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The promising growth scenario in the coming years is encouraging co-living players to further expand their presence. One such company is Bangaluru-headquartered Settl, which is one the fastest-growing companies in the co-living segment. The company plans to substantially increase the number of beds by the mid of June 2023.
“The co-living industry has bounced back significantly in the year 2022 after coming to a standstill in 2020 and a lackluster demand in 2021, because of the pandemic. With the reopening of almost all workplaces and educational institutions across India, we expect 2023 to be the best year. In line with it, we are in the process of adding 2000 beds in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram,” said Abhishek Tripathi, Co-Founder, Settl.
Started in 2020, Settl currently has more than 1,500 beds, of which 900 beds are in Bangaluru and 300 in Hyderabad and Gurugram. The total number of beds is expected to reach 3500 by March-end.
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And it is not just Settl. Other co-living players too are expanding. Co-living startup Housr, for instance, is also planning to expand their presence. Already, it has acquired Bengaluru-based StayAbode as part of its expansion plan in mid-2022.
With several other co-living operators also in expansion mode, the year 2023 promises to be a great year for the sector.
