The Shapoorji Pallonji real estate firm, has plans to enter the co-living business with its new projects in Pune and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) by the next year. The group has plans to diversify its portfolio by starting its shared living and student housing projects. The group aims to capitalize on an alternative asset class targeted at millennials who primarily rely on renting instead of owning homes.
After the COVID outspread, both the co-living and student housing sectors were deeply impacted due to reverse migration as working professionals and students returned to their hometowns during the lockdown, with work from home becoming the new normal.
According to the CEO of Shapoorji Pallonji, they are planning to start co-living and student housing projects in a measured manner as an offshoot of their projects. Over the next decade, the company can see a huge potential because of the demographics, increased work from home and rising spend on education.
The Mumbai-based company ranks amongst the mainstream real estate developers who have earlier ventured into the co-living space which is dominated by investor-backed startups.
Shapoorji Pallonji firm owns 1,000 acres in areas of Pune and Mumbai, with 600 acres of buildable area. The company has plans to do plotted development on about 100 acres, where it will build and sell villas or row houses on plots of land.
The property developer further has plans to set up a $600-million investment platform in partnership with a global sovereign fund to enter India’s growing warehousing space. However, its plans to launch operations this April were delayed due to the pandemic and will now take off around the same time next year.
