indias residential real estate market is facing its most prolonged slump in recent memory but one segment coliving is having a moment drawing considerable attention from investors a clutch of firms is battling it out in this space which is driven by the demand from migrant professionals who avoid househunting in a new city and prefer readily available furnished apartments with all facilitiesthis generation relies on the rental economy for most of its requirements and owning a property does not feature in its plans concerns about affordability aversion to long commutes and no fixed plan to staywork in one city are among the factors behind this trendcoliving companies such as zolo colive nestaway stanza living and oyo are trying to crack the segment which is expected to register compound annual growth rate cagr of 17 in the next five years and reach 14 billion in size a report by independent property consultant jll and the federation of indian chambers of commerce industry has made the projectiondelhincr will constitute nearly 40 of the potential market opportunity by 2023 followed by mumbai at 25 the realised demand in the top seven cities stood at about 94000 beds last year according to the reportpeople are willing to adopt the rental model till they settle down at about 35 said colive ceo suresh rangarajan these spaces have smaller private areas and larger common spaces which helps them socialise and works on the economy of scale for example i can provide 60gb of internet for rs250 the same will cost at least rs 1000 if one were to buy the plan on their owncolive which raised 92 million in series a round led by property developer salarpuria sattva has 20000 beds across bengaluru hyderabad and chennai and plans to scale it up to 60000 in the next two yearscoliving or community living is tenants sharing areas such as the kitchen and living room while having their private bedroom these apartments are generally furnished and the operators provide all necessary amenities including electricity internet food and laundry service one key advantage is that people dont have to pay huge deposits that most landlords demandnikhil sikri cofounder and ceo of zolo said coliving as a concept had existed in the form of pgs and other accommodation in india for many years but the sector was getting recognition now because of the entry of formal players zolo has about 55000 beds and it works with independent building owners landholders and property developers like ozone hiranandani and shapoorjiwhen working with builders we either lease out an entire tower or share the upside with them assured returns have prompted many builders to dabble in this market amid the slowdown in the real estate industry sikri saidshared apartments are relatively cheaper a knight frank research shows that a fully furnished residential unit in koramangala one of bengalurus costliest micromarkets commands a rent of rs 2700035000 while single occupancy coliving arrangement costs rs 17000 one can get a pg accommodation for