Can co-living solve housing affordability?

Savills Australia’s director of student accommodation, Paul Savitz, said co-living can help younger Australians in the same way student accommodation does, but for a slightly older demographic.

“Savills analysis found that 1.46 million 25-34-year-olds rent across Australia, with almost 10,000 renters aged 25-34 living in the Melbourne [designated areas]. Nationally, over 250,000 25-34-year-olds live on their own and 18.7 per cent of 25-34-year-olds also earn above the national average income, making them ideal prospective tenants for high-quality co-living properties.”

The property investor said that while it helps give younger Australians a start, it also gives investors reliable stable income and a fresh opportunities in the property space.

“Investors are looking at the key cities in Sydney and Melbourne as another real estate asset class that is pushing the boundaries and filling the gap.”

According to Conal Newland, director of student accommodation at Savills Australia, the emergence of the sector at scale in Australia will originate across Sydney and Melbourne as Savills analysis shows that 88 of the Top 100 ranked regions for investment and development are located across these two global gateway cities.  

“As development costs and relative housing unaffordability continues its upward trend in Australia’s capital cities, co-living options will only mature and succeed,” he said.

“This is a fresh opportunity for property investors, but it’s also a secure one. Co-living is a viable need, and it’s going to become more and more of a necessity over time,” Mr Newland said.

Early evidence suggests that the appearance of co-living properties in dense urban centres have been dominated by young professional residents from either start-up, creative, financial or professional sectors.

“For this demographic in particular, co-living offers the use and delivery of plentiful community-orientated amenity spaces encouraging social interactions, wellbeing and experience, alongside privacy in your living space and beautiful, sophisticated building designs, setting itself apart from the new-generation boarding house concept,” Mr Savitz said.