Investors still banking on Singapore co-living as hospitality play

IN THE run-up to the pandemic, co-living looked like the next big thing. Easy money was pouring into car-sharing, platform gigs, co-working spaces – and “dorms for grown-ups”, as an The Atlantic headline from 2015 called the sector.

Now, bigger co-living players are converging on the traditional hospitality market, with products that look almost indistinguishable from hotels and serviced apartments. But these providers are also hip to the demand for flexible lease options, which analysts believe could continue to open up new products in the residential sector here and regionally.

“When the first few co-living players came to Singapore, around eight to 10 years ago, the market surprised me on the upside,” Desmond Sim, chief executive of Edmund Tie, told The Business Times. Today, he finds the market situation here stable and healthy – if still “relatively niche” – and added: “It remains attractive for those who know how to manage (the spaces).”