Chennai: India’s rising urban population that will see around 150 million residents added to the tally will make the country the ‘trailblazer’ of co-living in Asia-Pacific region, said a report.
Released by JLL India, the report said, “Younger generations, fast evolving consumer trends and the potential scalability of the (Indian) market is a real drawcard for startups and developers looking to enter the market.”
A co-living space is a residential setup offering private bedrooms with shared common areas like kitchen and recreational rooms to a group of people on rent.
It said, of the over 35 million tertiary students currently in India, over 10 million will migrate to other cities, all plagued by the lack of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).
“As a result, some of the larger co-living operators like Stanza and Placio are targeting this student demographic and filling the void left by the lack of PBSA,” the report added.
According to the report, many young graduates are without a stable or high income.
It can be noted that in October last year, hospitality startup OYO, backed by Softbank, announced the launch of its co-living vertical OYO Living.
Bengaluru-based Zolo is targeting 50,000 beds pan-India by the year-end and US-based WeWork is also reportedly bringing its serviced-apartment offerings WeLive to India this year.
In its report, JLL noted that institutional investors and venture capital firms are also drawn to the booming industry. Marquee investors like Sequoia (Stanza), Nexus Venture Partners (Zolo) and Goldman Sachs (Nestaway) are looking to make most of the barely touched industry.
Currently, the co-living sector in India is pegged at around $120 million (Rs 845 crore). It is set to touch $2 billion by 2022 as it gets more formalised.