A relatively nascent trend in the real estate world, co-living has been picking up immense interest in the last year. Co-living is a modern take on shared housing, where like-minded individuals can reside in a fully furnished house, specifically designed to create an environment for people to interact and share experiences. For many in India, this trend has caught on because of its offering of an affordable rental decision and a chance to be a part of a community.
With more and more of India’s younger population migrating to cities for work, this concept of community living is drawing greater demand. These members of the population are often newly graduated from college and their concerns are mainly financial. They find it difficult to afford the rent for the houses they want and are finding their solution in sharing. Additionally, living alone, away from home can be a daunting prospect, and so, the concept of co-living helps these people find a collective to stay with, where they can flourish. Today, this younger generation constitutes a majority of the nation’s workforce. In their fast-paced lives, they desire a living space which is plush with amenities but find it highly difficult to afford it on their own. With difficulties in rental agreements and unreasonable deposit demands, they are finding it increasingly convenient to turn towards co-living spaces, which offer them newly-furnished spaces with a range of amenities at an affordable cost.
These spaces need to be designed with a special focus on improving communal areas as well as improving security measures. Many developers have stepped up to deliver these amenities, by installing facilities such as biometric and facial recognition in addition to setting up a 24×7 concierge and hiring guards and caretakers. The focus here is generally to design a communal residence that presents affordability, flexibility and ease of use.
While this is still a relatively recent trend in India, the co-living segment shows promise of offering a Rs 1 lakh crore business opportunity in the country by the year 2023, as can be seen from a joint research study conducted by JLL and FICCI on the rising demand for shared rental space. There has been a boom in the commercial real estate sector with more companies opening shop in the country. Because of this, there will be a rise in the number of people migrating to cities where these offices are housed for employment generation. This will lead to a greater demand for residential spaces that match their technology-driven needs. With more builders and developers taking an interest in this segment, the disruption which has come will help in creating a flourishing, modern and robust economy in India – giving the real-estate sector a shot in the arm that it needs today to reinvent itself. This presents a new wave that the industry is heading towards, and with plenty of advantages derived from the aforementioned FICCI report, and changing home ownership preferences of the millennial generation, this concept of communal living will gain further traction in the coming year.
[“source=businessworld”]
