Overview
Sydney's housing market is tough. For most people, owning a house is unattainable. Rent is cry-into-your-coffee high. Affordable options for single people are limited. Which is why new models for urban living are being explored, including the concept of co-living. Last month, UKO opened Sydney's first co-living space in Stanmore and now local investment group Caper Property Group is promising to add two more properties to the local market in early 2019.
If you haven't yet heard about co-living, the concept is this: a developer rents out (and maintains) self-contained furnished studio apartments on short-term leases. The building itself has communal spaces and events designed to create a sense of community in this crazy messed up digital world. It's like renting but without the stress of signing a scary lease or the investment of buying an entire house of furniture. The idea is that you can have your own place and the security that comes with that, but not be completely tied down to it; if you get a job (or a lover) that pulls you interstate or overseas — or you're just ready to move on — you can up and leave with minimal hassle. It's what you'd imagine marketing people would call 'fluid living'.
Taking inspiration from co-living projects overseas like Common in the US and The Collective in the UK, Caper Co-Living is hoping to pioneer the industry in Australia. Its first two properties will be located in the inner west, with the first to open in Newtown in January 2019 and another to follow in Petersham in March.
The Newtown spot will sit on King Street in a newly developed four-storey building. It'll have 16 studios — each with their own ensuite and kitchen — and a rooftop for residents to meet and hang out on. The Petersham location, however, will be a totally different vibe — Caper is currently turning a sprawling heritage home into a 40-studio complex. This one will have the added bonus of a garden, four communal living spaces and a library with a co-working space.
A place at Caper will set you back at least $525 per week in Newtown and $430 per week in Petersham. This might be slightly steeper than the cost of a regular studio in the area, but bear in mind that the rent is inclusive of all bills, internet, furniture, weekly cleaning and basic supplies. Plus, if you treat time as money, you don't have to deal with the expensive screw-around of setting all those things up.
You still have to make a commitment, which, at Caper, will be a 12-month 'membership'; it hopes to offer shorter memberships once things kick off. The notice period will be minimum of four weeks — after which, you just pack up the things you own and move out — but Caper Founder and CEO Chrystan Paul says the team will do its best to "look at each case individually and see how [it] can accomodate any unexpected moves and circumstances".
Basically, it's working off a similar model to student housing — except this is pitched more to young professionals that are in that not-so sweet spot of having outgrown shared housing but still want some sort of sense of community and human interaction you miss out on in your own studio.
This is what Paul says is at the core of the co-living experience. "Ensuring there is a strong sense of community and social interaction amongst members within our properties is vital, and something we have spent a lot of time thinking about," says Paul. "Community cannot be forced, it needs to be created naturally and allow our members to engage when and if they want to."
But if the model has similarities to student housing, the concern for potential tenants might be that it will start to feel like just that. But Paul says that this won't be the case due to Caper's design and furnishings — which could be found in a "boutique hotel" — and the way the properties will be managed. Each space will have a 'house manager' that ensures things run smoothly and make sure members have opportunities to get to know each other.
It's not a concept that's been widely tested in Australia before, so time will tell how locals respond to it — and if they're open to trialling this way of living.
Caper Co-Living will open at 601 King Street, Newtown and 2 Shaw Street, Petersham in early 2019. You can apply to live there here.