Mumbai among top 5 cities in Knight Frank co-living index

Knight Frank India, the leading international property consultancy, today launched a report titled “Insights on Co-living – An Asia-Pacific Perspective.”

As per the report, Mumbai is ranked 5th in Knight Frank India's co-living Index that tracks markets’ possibility of success as co-living destination.

The report covers twenty major Asia-Pacific cities classified into six key attributes likely to contribute in fostering the growth of Co-living within each Asia-Pacific city like- Tech & Financial Hub, Venture Capital Deals & Growth, Housing Affordability, University Population, General Population & Human Development Index, and Quality of Life.

As compared to 2010-2012, the venture capital deal flow in Mumbai spiked by 288% in the period between 2015-17. The rise in deal flow is a key indicator of the quality of job opportunities which are being created in the financial hub and a ready demographic pool which the co-living operators can cater to, given the omnipresent shortage of quality rental housing dwellings near employment hubs.

Co-Living is experiencing rapid traction across the markets and has been a disrupter in many ways in markets across the world, as per the report.

Amid changing lifestyles and stratospheric housing prices across major economic centres, co-living provides an alternate flexible accommodation option for the temporary and transient workforce.

This modern form of urban housing is not a new concept, with other forms of shared spaces already in existence; e.g. hotels, serviced apartments, hostels etc. Building upon a similar model, Co-living innovates by providing a curated social environment that builds upon the community via three distinguishing characteristics; Shared Spaces, Events and Community.

These six attributes have been allocated different weights based on their relevance and importance which in summation provides a metric to quantify the magnitude of co-living’s likelihood of success across the various Asia-Pacific cities.

With a weighted average score of 65.94 across six basic parameters, Mumbai (5th) has emerged as the top potential market for Co-living in India due to higher prices, rapid and continuous gentrification as well as its unchallenged position as India’s top economic centre, offering vast opportunities for growth of the co-living sector.

New Delhi features on the Co-Living Index at 11th position. Despite a relatively higher housing affordability than Mumbai, the general population and human development index in New Delhi is much higher than that of Mumbai, making it an apt choice for co-living operators to expand in as this is a key demand driver.

Being the national capital of India, New Delhi’s attracts both the internal and external migration of capital and people, which bodes well for co-living sector’s expansion going forward.

Being a prime technological hub, Bengaluru not only has access to talent but also a conducive and self-sustaining business environment and a vibrant start-up ecosystem supporting the gig economy due to which the city features at 19th position on the said index where the co-living sector can thrive.

Co-living operators in India, having recognized Bengaluru’s relevance to attract digital nomads early on, are continually augmenting capacities in their co-living communities and are also expanding in suburban and peripheral locations to cater to the burgeoning demand from this growing talent pool.

As per the report, China’s co-living sector is one of the most developed having started since the early 2010’s, Beijing is ranked 1st in the Co-living Index followed by Tokyo (2nd) & Shanghai (3rd).

“In India, the Co-living concept is gaining widespread acceptance and has brought to the forefront some new models in the private rental sector. With a vast globalised workforce and lack of affordable housing, Co-living has become an ideal choice to many millennials. The growing interest for co-living spaces in cities has been instrumental in many investors sitting up and taking notice of this emerging sector to diversify their portfolio and risk”said Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India.

“Further, the proposed Model Tenancy Act will provide the right legal framework for the growth of Co-Living in Indian cities, which already has a strong demand base.”, he added.