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.
“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, CEO of LHN Group, Coliwoo’s parent company, 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.
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.
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.”
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.”
ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX, France — Accor announced RevPAR gains of 4.2% for 2025, including a 7% increase in Q4 and net unit growth of 3.7% as part of its fourth quarter earnings.
For all of 2025, Accor opened 303 hotels and nearly 51,000 rooms, representing NUG of 3.7% over the last 12 months. The company’s pipeline stood at 257,000 rooms and 1,527 hotels.
“We still have the headwinds in so many economies, so many geographies, but yes, we are thrilled with what was achieved by the teams and by the different brands of this company. Why are we relieved and happy? I think because we really delivered on what we’ve been promising to you, which is cost discipline,” said Accor Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin during the company’s earnings call, referring to the company’s medium-term growth plan for 2023-27, which calls for annual RevPAR growth between 3-4% and NUG between 3-5%. “So the focus on the execution of the plan is something which is extremely important, has been the case for the last three years, will be the case for the next probably 10 years, and certainly for the next two years until the Capital Market Day is finished by 2027.”
Bazin also confirmed that Accor is in discussions to sell its 30.6% stake in Essendi (formerly AccorInvest), which he said must be closed by the end of 2026.
“We’re not late… it is a 12-18 months process,” he said. “We are exactly in the 12-month benchmark, and we are exactly at the stage we wanted to be, last year, when we talked about it. So nothing to worry about. We know where we’re going, but we’re going to finish the job.”
Bazin also said there haven’t been any changes to the status of a potential Ennismore IPO in the U.S. since he discussed it last October.
“The board of Accor, will be in exploration mode, as is the board of Ennismore, by the way, on exploring the benefits, the constraints, the pluses and minuses of actually a potential listing of Ennismore on any market, which, if we were to do so, will certainly enhance visibility, notoriety, liquidity, and maybe flexibility of Ennismore,” he said.
Bazin also said that if there are any changes to Ennismore’s structure, Accor will remain in control of what he calls a key growth engine for the company.
“Ennismore is an extraordinary asset [for] Accor, and Accor, in any scenario, will intend to remain in control of that growth engine, which is pivotal to the growth of Accor and certainly to the differentiating factors of Accor. So we’re still exploring many different venues,” he said.
Other Q4 highlights
RevPAR for Accor’s Premium, Midscale and Economy (PM&E) division posted a 5.8% increase in Q4 year-over-year, primarily driven by ADR. Other regional RevPAR highlights included Europe and North Africa posting a 3.3% YOY increase in Q4, while the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific posted a 7.6% YOY increase in Q4.
Accor recorded revenue of €5.639 billion ($6.6 billion), up 4.5% YOY, which included a 2.4% increase for its Premium, Midscale and Economy division and a 9.8% rise for its Luxury & Lifestyle division.
The company’s consolidated recurring EBITDA came to €1.201 billion ($1.41 billion) for 2025, up 13.3% YOY and exceeding its guidance of between 11-12%.
LOS ANGELES – ALIS 2026 featured two Forward sessions, spotlighting women in leadership roles who are paving the way forward for future women leaders in the hotel investment community.
Mary Beth Cutshall of Vision Hospitality, Kathleen Hollis of First Hospitality and Liz Perkins of Apple REIT all sit in chief growth officer roles and talked about subjects proffered by moderator Kevin Carey of the AH&LA ranging from the evolution of their roles, current demand generators and where they are looking for growth.
Cutshall is coming up on her first anniversary at Vision Hospitality, brought in to spearhead the next chapter of growth for the company.
“I’m able to think about not just the short term, but very long term from a real estate perspective for our portfolio – 10 to 20 years down the road,” Cutshall explained. “Which properties are legacy properties? Which properties will we want to sell at some point? Mitch [Patel] has an analogy that many may have heard. He calls it beer and wine, and we’re really assessing the ‘beer and wine,’ and establishing that next growth trajectory because the deals were getting bigger, the checks were getting bigger, and the initiatives was getting bigger. So, it was also about having one person accountable and leading that strategy, strategic partnerships, institutional capital. How can we maximize the properties that we have from a revenue perspective?”
Hollis said her mandate was to focus on growth in the third-party management space in three ways – new hotel developments, hotel acquisitions and via management changes. “At the end of the day, it boils down to the team’s ability to convince sophisticated, smart hotel owners that First Hospitality can add value to the bottom line, either at an asset that the investor currently owns or is thinking of buying,” she said.
Perkins said responsibility for longer-term growth at Apple REIT is focused on being best-in-class asset managers and operators with our third-party management teams and adding value that way.
“Our entire executive team knows the marching orders of growth. It’s not just property count. It’s earnings per share and growth for our investors,” Perkins expanded. “We can do that in many and one thing that I love about Apple REIT, and one of the reasons I’ve been able to sort of wear different hats and evolve into different roles is because we’re so integrated. Everyone is working toward a common goal focused on how we can drive incremental value better than we did last year because that’s going to put us in the best position and have the best ability to grow from an asset count perspective.”
Carey turned the conversation to demand and how the panelists feel about the big picture in 2026.
Perkins said that COVID proved how resilient travel is, but admitted administration policy has chipped away at the periphery. “But when you look at underlying occupancy for the industry, it’s strong,” she said. “Performance is really good. Universally, we’d love to see more growth as we enter the year, given some of the demand impacts from last year. We’re optimistic that disruption will lapse, particularly on the government business side of things. But we’ll have to see.”
Perkins added that with midterm elections, the World Cup and the 250th anniversary in the U.S., “there’s a lot to potentially be excited about from an incremental demand perspective.”
When asked about corporate travel, Perkins said business travel was close to pre-COVID levels when DOGE and Liberation Day hit demand. Now, she said Apple REIT is seeing continual and steady improvement with occupancies and corporate demand.
“We’re optimistic that we’ll continue to see slow and steady growth, but I think it will be different than it was pre-COVID,” Perkins said. “Large corporations versus small- to medium-sized accounts may look different. And, I think that is sector based mainly.”
Cutshall said Vision has seen a 7% increase year-to-date in business transient for the month of January, which gives them some conviction and strength of corporate travel for the rest of the year. “We’re even more excited about corporate groups,” she said. “Our group pace for 2026 is up 9%.”
Cutshall, who encouragingly said length of stay for groups and corporate is extending, added that Vision is trying to be creative about how they play with groups to maximize revenue. “We’re focused on pattern management in markets where BT is strong on Tuesday and Wednesday, and you shift your groups to Monday and Thursday,” she explained. “Some [group] members are rightfully constrained with the ADR that they’re able to pay. And maybe that’s ok. Maybe we can get creative beverage minimums and find a way and maximize holistic revenue, rather than just being totally focused on group. So, as a RevPAR growth driver this year, group will play an important part.”
Hollis referenced one thing that First has been having fun with in larger full-service hotels with multiple food and beverage outlets: on slower days when some restaurant space isn’t very active, with minimal expense, revamp them to make it more flexible and, for example, open the bar to a corporate group, or offer a buyout to a group to have an alternative meeting space versus the traditional ballroom.
“Thinking about the hotel as a holistic revenue maximization opportunity, rather than rooms or simple F&B has been kind of fun,” Hollis said.
When asked about growing with brands versus independents – Vision has both – Cutshall said they will be sticking with the brands and do more soft brands. “We’re going to stick with our bread and butter when it comes to brands,” she said. “When it comes to geographical expansion, we’ve been very thoughtful about where we go. We’re going to stay in the smile states in the southeast. We’re open to the Midwest and having some conversations out west. It’s going to be a case-by-case situation on the opportunity, the potential and partnerships.”
Vision would also like to find some value-add, according to Cutshall. “But in today’s market, we’re not seeing a lot of things that excite us. To be frank, we’re not really interested in properties that are a little long in the tooth.”
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