Singapore’s co-living sector comes of age

SINGAPORE – Once taken lightly, majority of investors (65%) now view Singapore’s co-living sector as stable rather than speculative. Their IRR targets for the asset class have moved to under 15%, i.e., less risky, according to a JLL research. Just two years ago, the majority (73%) viewed the asset class as kind of the Wild West. Today, the sector has matured into a $1.4 billion investment market.

Signs of the coming-of-age are visible. Last November, homegrown Coliwoo Holdings became the first co-living player to list on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) mainboard, raising S$101 million ($80 million) for expansion. Another homegrown player, The Assembly Place, followed in January with a small-cap Catalist SGX listing targeting a $18.3 million raise.

Kelvin Lim, Coliwoo

“The listing of Coliwoo and The Assembly Place marks a new phase for Singapore’s co-living sector, signaling its maturity and institutional appeal,” said Xander Nijnens, senior managing director, head of advisory and asset management, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, APAC.

Co-living prospects appear bright. A Cushman & Wakefield’s independent review prepared for Coliwoo’s IPO suggests that with more than 9,000 rooms, Singapore’s co-living sector currently accounts for only 6% of the rental market in the city. When compared to a massive pool of 1.5 million government and private condominium/apartment units, co-living remains a niche segment with significant white space to capture a much larger share of the rental landscape.

Kelvin Lim, executive chairman and CEO of Coliwoo, told Hotel Investment Today that demand remains sturdy. “Singapore is one of the safest places to do business in the region. We see foreign students coming in, and foreign expats setting up their companies and hiring foreigners. These people need a place to stay, and co-living is a good alternative,” he said.

Hotel rates in Singapore are more expensive. According to Cushman & Wakefield, co-living providers usually charge lower monthly rents for longer stays than shorter terms to mitigate vacancy risks. For example, a studio or room with ensuite bathroom and/or kitchenette, which Coliwoo largely offers, could fetch S$2,300 to S$3,800 per month in the city/Orchard area, and S$2,000 to $2,650 per month in suburban locations.

Renting a co-living unit is also easier with today’s technology and is fuss-free than a condo or apartment unit involving lots of paperwork. Besides, owners usually prefer a two-year lease.

Last year, the average occupancy across Coliwoo’s portfolio rose to 96.1%, from 92.5% in 2024. Group revenue (for financial year ended September 30, 2025) was S$46.7 million, and core profit after tax and minority interests was S$22.9 million.

Its IPO was oversubscribed 20.7 times in the public tranche and 8.2 times overall.

Space optimizer

With its portfolio of co-living hotels and serviced apartments, Coliwoo leverages dual licensing to capture daily stays for short-term travelers under a hotel license, while simultaneously catering to the long-term rental market with residential co-living, which has a minimum three-month rental requirement.

“Generally, we do long stays of six to nine months. Short stays are used to fill up the gaps,” Lim said.

Usually, we’re able to do a sale-and-leaseback of the property after two or three years. We continue to operate the asset and earn capital gains, which we reinvest into higher-yielding opportunities.

Kelvin Lim

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A “space optimization” specialist, Coliwoo acquires or leases unused or under-used properties – everything from a fire station to an industrial or office building – then rapidly retrofit them into self-contained micro-studios with their own kitchenettes and bathrooms. Communal spaces and an events calendar are part of its offering.

The company intends to add 800 new rooms per year over the next three years. It is on track to hit its target of 4,000 rooms this year, from 3,200 rooms currently, excluding its latest acquisition, a 251-room hotel located in a business park close to Changi airport. Lim intends to convert the hotel into a 368-room co-living hotel, subject to authority approval. Brokered by JLL, it is Coliwoo's largest transaction to-date costing S$101 million.

According to Lim, it takes six months for a conversion and another six months to stabilize the asset. The cost to reposition a property into a good, institutionalized co-living property is said to be S$50,000 per room or less.

Asset divestment and recycling is a core strategy. “Usually, we’re able to do a sale-and-leaseback of the property after two or three years. We continue to operate the asset and earn capital gains, which we reinvest into higher-yielding opportunities,” Lim said.

Last December, Coliwoo exited a third asset, Coliwoo Hotel in Pasir Panjang, launched in December 2023, for S$43.9 million.

As of January, Coliwoo owns 24% of its 3,200 rooms, leases 60% and manages 16%, reflecting an asset-light position.

Co-living maths

The seemingly high potential of co-living in Singapore is not without its difficulties.

Xander Nijnens, JLL

Underwriting hotel conversion to co-living can be challenging, JLL’s Nijnens said. “While investors are still looking at hotel conversions, it’s becoming harder to make the numbers work. Singapore’s hotel market performance remains strong, which can make it challenging for the economics of a long-stay co-living model to compete with the higher returns generated by short-stay hotel operations.”

While co-living offers significantly lower operating costs, this rarely offsets the lower revenue per room compared to a functional hotel, he said, adding that this investment thesis mainly holds for under-performing assets or value-add and CAPEX-driven strategies.

Moreover, it still lacks the clear yield and realized return data found in mature asset classes. “This transparency should improve as stabilized assets come to the market,” Nijnens said.

Nijnens expects to see further consolidation in the sector, with larger operators acquiring smaller players such as Cove’s acquisition of Casa Mia Co-Living last November, and Habyt’s takeover of Hmlet in 2022.

With the exception of Habyt, which is Berlin-based, Coliwoo, The Assembly Place, Cove and Ascott’s lyf are local players, along with dozens of other small start-ups that appeared especially after pandemic year 2019.

Interestingly, Ascott lyf’s footprint in home base Singapore is small, comprising 1,300 units across four properties and a fifth opening in July. This compares with Coliwoo’s 3,200 rooms across 27 locations in Singapore.

That’s perhaps because as a global company, Ascott must balance capital across international markets, unlike Singapore-first Coliwoo.

“From the first lyf in Singapore [opened in 2019], the brand has grown across 25 cities in 15 countries,” said Adeline Phua, managing lyf partner and Ascott’s vice president, business development. “In Europe, we opened our third lyf property in France last year and have four additional openings scheduled for 2026 — a second property in Vienna and three in the U.K. We opened our third lyf property in Australia [in Melbourne] and signed our first lyf in Wellington, New Zealand. We are also in advanced negotiations in the Middle East and India.”

The nature of Living as a theme is that in many markets there are blurred lines between co-living, student accommodation, residential, hospitality, and other occupational uses. This is part of the investment appeal in that investors can pivot or alter the focus of their Living assets to suit the segments with the best demand.

Xander Nijnens

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On expansion in Singapore, she said, “We remain highly optimistic about Singapore’s co-living sector and see substantial room for growth in the market.”

Living large

Meanwhile, JLL has just appointed senior director, living capital markets, Asia, based in Singapore. Lauren Hetherington brings 10 years of Living sector expertise and was director of JLL’s UK Living Capital Markets team.

Said Nijnens, “JLL’s growing interest in Living as a sector reflects the increased diversification of our existing hotels clients into the Living sector, one of the region's fastest-growing real estate sectors. We see significant opportunity for yield compression and capital deployment over the next decade.”

He added, “Living as a theme is expressed differently in each country. In Singapore co-living is an important and growing sector, whilst Hong Kong is seeing strong interest in student accommodation as well as co-living. In Japan, it’s more in multifamily (rental) residential.

“The nature of Living as a theme is that in many markets there are blurred lines between co-living, student accommodation, residential, hospitality, and other occupational uses. This is part of the investment appeal in that investors can pivot or alter the focus of their Living assets to suit the segments with the best demand.”