Covid-19 forces co-living platforms to get houses in order

With occupancy rates down by 40-50% because of the nationwide 21-day lockdown, companies in the co-living space are realigning their business model. The pandemic may see organised players gaining in the long run

Vandana, 9 Apr 2020

Co-living companies enjoyed a bull run last year with operators aggressively expanding and investors funding this growth

Covid-19 and the resultant impetus on social distancing has dealt a blow to the very concept of shared or community living

A lockdown since 24 March has affected their occupancies, forcing them to change their business model

The short-term pain aside, more focus on hygiene post Covid-19 could lead to unorganised PGs losing their share to co-living spaces

“Our sales have been zero for the last 15 days,” says Viral Chhajer, co-founder of Bengaluru-based co-living startup StayAbode.

With India in the midst of a 21-day countrywide lockdown because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, co-living companies such as StayAbode have been badly hit.

Chhajer reckons business could drop by 25% by the end of April if the lockdown extends beyond the initial 15 April deadline. Other co-living spaces reckon occupancy is down by 40-50%. Zolostays, India’s largest co-living operator, has cut its expected growth rate from 140% to about 70-80% for the year ending March 2021.

AUTHOR

Vandana

Vandana is based in Delhi. She covers vertically focussed startups in consumer internet space and also writes on travel tech and smartphones for The Ken. She has spent 13 years in journalism covering a wide range of subjects- equity markets, mutual funds to education and skilling, working at organisations such as Business Standard, CNBC TV18 and The Week in the past.

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