By Saurabh Vohara
India is a young country, growing and developing each day. Dynamic thought processes are bringing about a new era of progress in both, professional and personal lives. With business-friendly reforms and evolving demographic profiles, people are looking for evolved trends in the real estate sector to suit their needs. To best cater to them, realtors and developers must constantly be on their toes in preparation of any new developments in the sector. Off late, there are three new trends taking the real estate sector by storm.
Co-Working:
Conceptualised in the year 2005, in San Francisco, Co-working has revolutionised the global real estate realm and disrupted the way people work, to the delight of freelancers and budding entrepreneurs all over the world. A Co-working space can be described as a business services provision model that involves individuals working independently or collaboratively in a shared office space. It generally offers a number of amenities, such as shared workspaces, conference rooms or private cabins on rent, Wi-Fi, communal printer/copier/fax machines, and more. These spaces, thus, offer users a professional work environment, without compromising on individualistic freedom. In India, co-working is still a relatively new concept, but has the potential to grow to atmospheric levels. Being the second largest in APAC after China, India has an approximate ten million people who are expected to work, especially from major cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and NCR. WeWork and CoWorks are currently the major players in this market, and plan to double their capacity each year.
Co-working spaces have a host of benefits to offer their users. These include:
- It is a very cost-effective option, not just for freelancers, SMEs and Corporates,
- Most of these spaces provide users, the flexibility to decide their own work hours.
- The users of this space have the chance to mingle and collaborate with their peers and build a community of professionals. These spaces also offer scope for networking within the professional community.
- It is a lucrative platform for corporates to go beyond cost savings. They are realising that working alongside young, energetic and like-minded people outside the conventional office set-up can lead to innovation, boost productivity and employee satisfaction.
Co-Living:
India’s residential rental market is pegged between $18- $20 billion, according to estimates found by industry analyses. According to a study, the overall share of rental housing could be 35-45% of the total residential segment in India, with urban centres accounting for nearly 70% of the total rental market. Much like co-working, the trend of co-living spaces is a new trend in the country, and is here to stay. These are essentially managed residences, which are given on rent, on a per-bed basis. They are generally outfitted with a variety of amenities, which include furniture, televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, Wi-Fi service, and more. An important benefit of these co-living spaces is the reduced lock-in leasing period, thereby increasing convenience.
Key takers of these spaces are single working professionals and students; in case of students, the total occupancy recorded in college hostels across the country has shown only 3.4 million which means there is a demand-supply mismatch of around 8.9 million. This mismatch is currently being covered by the unorganised players in the market, like PG accommodations and rental houses. Co-living spaces are touted to be the real estate market’s next big gold mine, according to industry experts, and have the potential to become a USD 93 million market in India. These spaces have incredible potential in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Telangana, which together make up forty eight per cent of the student population.
Senior Living:
A relatively new addition to the ‘evolving real estate trends’ league, senior living spaces have been gaining traction over the last one year. Senior living essentially refers to homes that cater to adults above 55 years of age, who are looking to live independently in a peer environment. Seniors who gravitate towards such housing options tend to have no major health issues and are active enough to more or less, look after themselves. These are colonies wherein special amenities are readily provided for senior citizens to enjoy living, hassle-free. It inculcates a sense of a community, well-suited to that life while allowing for healthy and independent ageing. With nuclear families on the rise, there is massive scope for development in this space.
