After years of strong growth in property values and rental rates, momentum in the housing market is beginning to slow. Growth is stagnating across the country, and values in some markets are slipping. This shift has caused some investors to hold off on acquiring additional real estate holdings as we go into 2023. However, some multifamily investors are seeking unconventional opportunities to ensure annualized returns, such as co-living models. The Rise of Co-Living According to iPropertyManagement, an online informational database which provides resources for landlords, the average rent price nationwide has increased 8.85 percent per year since 1980, consistently outpacing wage growth and creating financial strain for renters. To make rent more affordable, more renters are opting for co-living, splitting the rent with multiple roommates in larger apartments. These renters quickly run into a few problems, however. First, most rentals offer only one or two bedrooms. In fact, around 65 percent of the nationwide apartment inventory has two bedrooms or fewer, according to a 2020 study conducted by Harvard University on rental housing. With the high cost of two-bedroom units, splitting the rent with only one other roommate may not reduce the per person rent to an affordable rate. The …
