Singapore co-living players eye overseas markets for growth

LARGER co-living operators in Singapore are starting to look to overseas markets as another avenue to ramp up their portfolios.

Singapore and Hong Kong are the two primary markets for Germany-based housing operator Habyt in the Asia-Pacific. The two cities have “very similar property dynamics”, such as a housing crunch, said Asia-Pacific chief executive Jonathan Wong. Habyt merged with home-grown co-living startup Hmlet in 2022.

“Hong Kong, Singapore, for the same reasons, are great growth areas that we want to focus on,” he said, noting that Hong Kong makes up about one-quarter to one-third of the regional portfolio.

“It’s become a lot more mature from a customer perspective. We’re no longer looking primarily at folks coming in from European or Western markets… We’re seeing that local customer base grow.” He called emerging Asian markets such as India or South-east Asia “a fantastic opportunity”, although Habyt is “not prioritising” them for now. Wong cited stiff local competition.

Other Singapore players have not counted out the region.

Mainboard-listed LHN Group, which owns the Coliwoo brand, entered Cambodia in 2018 with a US$12.5 million purchase of an apartment block now being run as serviced residence 85 SOHO Phnom Penh.

CapitaLand’s wholly-owned Ascott arm is pushing its lyf brand out to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Bali, and Cebu City, on top of markets such as Tokyo, Sydney, and Frankfurt.

Edmund Tie & Co chief executive officer Desmond Sim told BT that operators who have done well in Singapore will probably head for regional markets that have a promising base of potential customers such as digital nomads.

As lyf continues to expand in Singapore and abroad, Adeline Phua, managing partner for lyf, also did not rule out moving into residential-zoned properties as well.

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“It really, again, depends on the opportunities presented to us,” she said.

She added: “What has made (co-living) sexy again was really the shared economy and what we are doing with it.

“So, for us, other than providing lodging as a core need of the customer, what attracts them to lyf as a brand, or (to) this concept, is the add-ons. That’s what makes the brand.”