The Rise of Co-living Spaces: One More Direction in Mumbai Rentals
Mumbai is another city famed as the city of dreams accommodating more than 20 million inhabitants. As the population continues to surge, the city faces a perennial challenge: promoting the construction of affordable accommodation. But recently a new idea has been developed to address this problem, that is co-living spaces. This trend has not only reinvented the housing market but also mimicked the lifestyle that millennials and young professionals desire in urban areas.
What Are Co-living Spaces?
Co-living environments are living structures or agreements through which people share different living areas such as the bedrooms, the kitchen, and other areas. Contrary to the regular dormitory-like arrangements, co-living spaces are furnished with contemporary amenities that best suit the needs of the independent residents. They are equipped with furniture and other essentials and have features such as cleaning services, maintenance, and fast internet among others to enhance a comfortable stay.
Co-living Spaces: A New Feature of Mumbai’s Housing Market
The trends of co-living spaces have been adopted rather rapidly in the city of Mumbai over the last few years. According to a report by JLL India, the co-living sector in India will grow to $2.2 billion by 2022, with Mumbai being one of the leading markets.
Affordability
Mumbai has a high living standard and therefore the search for better housing or accommodation is very challenging. Co-living spaces can be exploited as better sources of accommodation than normal. Subletting such premises also helps break down costs that are incurred by residents in terms of rent and utilities hence making living in cities possible. It is also important to note that this financial model is more popular among young people, especially individuals, who are students or recently employed people and often have limited financial resources.
Convenience
Usually placed in highly demanded locations, co-living spaces are located close to comfortable transportation links, offices, and leisure. It also saves the time of traveling and also offers an improved quality of life by living within the cities. However, factors such as elegantly furnished and equipped kitchens, laundry facilities, and fitness centers among others also serve as considerations.
Community Living
It is noteworthy to mention that co-living spaces provide a place where people can feel included and build social connections – a factor vitally important for those arriving in the city. Mess areas and communal dinners ensure that the residents interact on a daily basis and where this is not possible, usual Tri-weekly dinner parties help make the transition to urban life much easier.
Changing Business Models
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, co-living operators have also had to reassess what they are offering tenants. Most transitioned from an investment-based strategy to a business model in which they only sign leases and receive a percentage of the revenues from the landlords’ rental properties. By developing their services in this manner, the operators were able to be agile and survive different environments. This took into account the professionalism of current advanced technologies like IoT and automation to make the operations more efficient and also improve the living standards of the residents.
Future Prospects
With references to theories discussed in this paper, it can be concluded that the prospects of co-living spaces in Mumbai are bright. According to a report by CBRE, co-living spaces in India have grown at a compound annual rate of 17 percent over the past five years. In Mumbai, this trend is even more prominent, with developers recognizing the need for shared living spaces. Further, the constant reminder of hygiene and safety together with the higher level of preference for co-living facilities make Co-living spaces relevant in the future.
As more developers start investing in this segment and the rising need from renters, co-living is poised to be one of the major segments of the real estate market in the future based on the nature of the findings. Co-living spaces are now getting more and more popular among developers as they are actively involved in a range of co-living projects.