Student demand fuels next phase of co-living: report

It said co-living’s flexible lease structures align well with academic calendars.

Foreign tenants continue to anchor Singapore’s co-living sector, with students accounting for as much as 25–40% of occupancy at some operators, according to the report from JLL.

The report highlighted rising demand from Chinese students, noting there were around 70,800 foreign students in Singapore as of June 2023.

It said co-living’s flexible lease structures align well with academic calendars, positioning student demand as a growing engine of future growth.

This rising demand comes as the co-living market enters a more mature phase marked by stabilising growth, tighter competition, and new regulatory interventions, JLL noted.

JLL estimated room inventory grew by about 17% between 2023 and 2025, with the top five operators now controlling roughly 65.3% of fewer than 10,000 rooms—signalling market consolidation and steadier competition.

Despite an increase of nearly 30,000 private housing units between 2022 and 2023 that eased supply shortages and pushed private residential rents down for three consecutive quarters from Q4 2023 to Q2 2024, co-living operators maintained occupancies of 85–95 percent, well above breakeven levels of 70–75%.

Gross operating profit margins remained strong at about 55–70%, supported by scale and cluster-based operations.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) introduced a new Long-stay Serviced Apartments (SA2) category in November 2023 to fill a between-stays gap, setting a minimum three-month stay requirement. JLL said the move followed a 58.5% surge in private rents through Q3 2023.

Recent Government Land Sales (GLS) outcomes showed mixed developer appetite—Zion Road (Parcel A) was awarded, whilst Upper Thomson drew no bids, and Media Circle’s sole bid was rejected.

The report noted SA2’s higher land and product costs may limit its suitability for co-living use.

JLL observed operators are pivoting toward asset-light growth, increasingly favouring management agreements for scalability despite lower margins (about 10–13% versus 20–25% for master leases).

Many are unbundling pricing components such as utilities and cleaning to boost transparency and revenue optimisation, whilst prioritising entire-building formats (60+ keys) for operational efficiency and better community amenities.

Authorities are also repurposing properties and tendering demographic-specific accommodation projects—including for healthcare workers and students—a trend JLL said is accelerating the professionalisation and institutionalisation of Singapore’s co-living market.