Co-living is breaking out from being a niche real estate fad and becoming more mainstream, CNBC reports. The practice is serving as a way to get young adults out of their parents’ house and branch out on their own.
“Many of us thought that during the recovery, as the job market improved, the share living with their parents would peak and start falling,” says Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew Research Center. “That has not happened yet.”
But housing analysts believe co-living may do that. Co-living brings together a group of people in a shared space. Kitchens and work areas may be communal areas, but sleeping quarters are private. For young adults on a tight budget, co-living is a way to move out of their parents’ house while keeping their rents lower than living on their own in an apartment. Co-living setups also tend to offer more flexible lease terms.
Forty-eight percent of 690 commercial real estate practitioners recently surveyed by the National Association of REALTORS® have reported an increase in group or co-living apartments.
The number of co-living units is expanding rapidly, CNBC reports. For example, WeWork opened two locations under a brand called WeLive in the U.S. Its units in New York offer studios to four-bedroom units. The units tend to cost less than similar buildings in the area. Other companies, including Haven, Common, Ollie, Quarters, and others, are using similar business models in offering up shared common spaces.
Source: “Is Co-Living the New Craigslist?” CNBC (Feb. 2, 2020)
