Why Co-Living Is Here to Stay
Multi-Housing News, July 5, 2019 — Bungalow CEO & Co-Founder Andrew Collins points out how the growing co-living concept can address the affordable housing shortage and explains why he chose Boston for his company’s most recent expansion.
How five elder women are creating an intentional community in an expensive housing market
Shareable, June 4, 2019 — Five elder women in one of the highest-cost urban areas in the United States are banding together to build the intentional retirement community of their dreams.
San Francisco Bay Area residents Mary McDonald, Barbara Reusch, Alisa Foster, Harriet Tubman Wright, and Ina Clausen were all concerned about where they would be living in 10 or 20 years, who would be helping to care for them as they aged, and how they could achieve their desire to age in an intentional community — especially given soaring housing costs. Hibiscus Commons, which is slated to be the first elder cooperative created in partnership with the Bay Area Community Land Trust, was born out of their conversations.
Co-Living Is In Growth Mode As Gentrification Issues Shake Up Major Cities
BisNow, June 5, 2019 — Growing student loans, housing affordability concerns and rising construction expenses birthed a new asset class known as co-living over the past five years. As that sector grows rapidly in an attempt to give younger professionals higher-end living at lower rents, institutional players are expected to take notice soon.
Co Housing – Bringing community back home
My Good Planet, June 10, 2019 — Co-housing is an intentionally designed domestic lifestyle; a community in which many responsibilities – normally the concern of an individual or couple – are shared amongst members. Co-housing can take many forms but generally involves living within and around a central communal area.
Co-Living and Student Housing Collide, as People Struggle to Afford Rent in Expensive Urban Markets
National Real Estate Investor, June 11, 2019 — Co-living, one of the hottest trends in apartment investment, has a lot in common with student housing.
Starcity Secures Approvals on the Two Largest Purpose-Built Coliving Communities in the World
SAN FRANCISCO — (BUSINESS WIRE), June 11, 2019 — Today Starcity, the pioneering community-based living startup, has announced it has secured approval from the City of San Francisco and the City of San Jose respectively for two large-scale purpose-built coliving projects. These two “vertical neighborhoods” will be the company’s largest projects to date and represent the distinct and innovative potential of large-scale urban coliving developments for Starcity’s future growth.
Coliving a Niche Asset Class on the Rise
Mile High CRE, June 11, 2019 — As rent seems to continuously rise in Denver, people are beginning to seek out more affordable options that don’t skimp out on amenities. Coliving is one option that centers around a type of intentional community housing where multiple people share a single home with shared areas such as bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms as well as other amenities.
Cushman & Wakefield has released a report on Coliving called Survey of the Coliving Landscape that provides an in-depth report on the multifamily subsector and how it is emerging as a favored, niche asset class.
Outpost Announces Opening of First San Francisco Coliving House
SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Outpost Club, a leading real estate technology platform in New York City, announced today it has opened its first coliving house in San Francisco. The coliving space provides affordable accommodation to 18 members in a newly renovated location. The new space opened less than a month after the company announced its expansion plans for the West Coast.
Heard of co-working? The next big thing may be co-living
CNBC — More and more people are turning to co-living spaces instead of traditional accommodation such as hotels, hostels, or even Airbnbs.
What is co-living and why is it popular?
Business Insider — Millennials are paying thousands of dollars a month for maid service and instant friends in modern ‘hacker houses’ — Every morning in the Euclid Manor, a 6,000-square-foot single-family home on the outskirts of downtown Oakland, California, the residence’s 13 inhabitants trample over one another in a race for the shower before preparing breakfast at a kitchen counter that seats three…
What is co-living, and why is it such a big deal?
Brick Underground — If you’ve heard the term co-living and dismissed it because you thought it was some millennial fad or just didn’t think it was a big deal, you may be making a mistake… Includes a guide to co-living spaces in New York.
New-to-Philly real estate start-up turns rowhouses into mini-‘co-living’ dens
The Inquirer — Bungalow, a real estate start-up, has arrived in Philadelphia with a business model that could have been cribbed from MTV’s The Real World, casting young strangers as housemates one city at a time.
Tired of high rent? ‘Coliving’ concept takes off in St. Pete
10 News — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Amid high rents and rapid growth throughout the Tampa Bay area, some renters are opting into “coliving” situations to reduce the amount they shell out each month for a roof over their head…
What Today’s Residents Want From Coliving Spaces
Multifamily Executive — Coliving has become a popular housing option for cash-strapped millennials looking to save on rent by sharing amenities. Developers like Common, The Collective, and WeWork (WeLive) have capitalized on the trend by building large communities with private bedrooms and shared common spaces….
In November 2017, Ikea’s research lab, Space10, launched an interactive website and survey called One Shared House 2030, which was set up as a mock application to a shared house that one would move into in the year 2030. The survey asked people about their coliving preferences – from what spaces they’d want to keep private to what types of utilities they wouldn’t mind sharing. The survey got feedback from more than 7,000 people in 147 countries.
As it turns out, people really don’t want to share bathrooms–or bedrooms for that matter–but are fine with sharing kitchens, workspaces, gardens, and the internet. People were most open to living with childless couples and single women, and would prefer not to deal with teenagers or small children. The biggest concern is privacy–except for people over 65, who are most worried about having arguments and dealing with other people’s messes.
But most interestingly, the survey revealed that respondents were most interested in living in shared houses of between 4 and 10 people. That’s really small–and not something that today’s coliving companies offer. Instead, those companies are going the opposite direction, building giant skyscrapers that can house hundreds of people and calling it coliving. The Collective has a giant tower in west London with 550 beds, WeLive is building a skyscraper in Seattle that will have 384 apartments, and in 2018 the U.S. company Ollie is launching a coliving house with more than 470 apartments in Queens, New York.
The survey shows that the main reason people are interested in coliving is because they want to be social. But no one wants to live in a giant hotel–which sounds just as isolating as living in an apartment. Instead, they want to connect with people in a meaningful way. Sharing some space with strangers is becoming a more acceptable paradigm for city dwellers looking for connection. Based on the results of Ikea’s survey, it seems like no coliving company has really figured out the right balance between an economically feasible scale and a scale that favors human connections.
Is Co-Living 2.0 The Next Big Thing In Residential Real Estate?
Forbes — You all know the old saying, “home is where the heart is.” Increasingly, urban residents have been looking for places that foster a sense of community, as well as providing great accommodation. It is a well-known fact that people have a growing sense of isolation in our ever more connected world, something that has been highlighted with the heightened attention to mental health issues in recent years…
4 reasons why I’ve spent 14 years in cohousing and why I plan to stay …
Business Insider — Author Laura McCamy has lived in cohousing for 14 years — here’s why she plans to stay: Cohousing communities are residential living arrangements organized around common space, shared meals, and group activities. Neighbors help each other with everything from childcare to home maintenance. Each unit is self-contained, so you can balance your need for solitary time with the joy of group experiences.
Cohousing: A Growing Concept in Communal Living
AARP — Shut the door when you like, but dinners for 31 and shared care of community are the norm…
