Letting the young live in luxury

Catering to young renters, the properties feature regular community activities and convenient amenities. — Photo: LiveIn

AFFORDABLE living quarters has long been a problem in South-East Asia, particularly among young people.

A 2019 report by the Asian Development Bank showed that home prices in 90% of 211 cities in the Asia Pacific had become severely unaffordable for median-income households. Even rentals are skyrocketing.

Enter proptech company LiveIn. Since 2020, it has worked to address the affordable housing crisis.

“With over 60 million young people moving to cities for better opportunities, many are not able to afford quality homes, and settle for subpar rental accommodations,” explains LiveIn chief executive officer and co-founder Keek Wen Khai.

“Meanwhile, property development continues to grow due to aggressive development strategies by developers, leading to low occupancy rates and unrealised returns for property owners.”

LiveIn’s solution to the widening gap between supply and demand for long-stay accommodations is to transform vacant properties into modern, affordable homes, providing a comprehensive suite of services from interior design to marketing and tenant management.

Through this approach, property owners can benefit from higher occupancies and better rental yields, while tenants get affordable, fully-furnished housing options in convenient locations.

Targeting today’s young renters, the business aims to deliver high-quality living, enhanced with flexible leases, integrated services, and community-focused events. Beyond local shores, the Malaysian-based company also has operations in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“Offering affordable rental solutions at about US$200 per month, LiveIn has experienced rapid organic growth, operating close to 10,000 rooms across four countries while generating profits,” Khai notes.

While LiveIn’s managed rent business model has quickly found success within the last four years, the company’s story in fact dates back to 2015.

Originally known as Hostel Hunting, the start-up was created with the goal of assisting university students in finding affordable, quality accommodations.

“Initially, the business involved buying properties, furnishing them, and renting them out to students,” he says.

“However, this asset-heavy model wasn’t scalable. Consequently, we pivoted to an online listing marketplace model that had over 100,000 listings at its peak. Although scalable, this model didn’t ensure a consistent standard of offerings.”

This eventually led to the business’ official rebrand to LiveIn. Focused around partnering with property owners on a revenue-sharing basis, the model provides a profitable and scalable way to bring affordable, furnished rooms to young people.

According to Khai, one of the advantages of working with LiveIn as a landlord is that the business takes on management responsibilities for the properties, including covering operational costs and end-to-end tenant management, while the owner is updated with timely reports.

“Even during the MCO (movement control order), we were able to maintain a consistent and high rental collection rate for property owners,” he says. By driving demand generation activities to boost occupancy levels, the business is able to ensure continuous, long-term passive incomes for owners.

“In 2023, LiveIn achieved an average of 40% increased income for property owners and an average of above 85% occupancy.”

Additionally, property values are raised as a result of renovations, project management, interior design upgrades, and maintenance by LiveIn.

For tenants, access to well-appointed, affordable housing enables students and young professionals to achieve better quality of life.

“Our goal is to empower young people in South-East Asia by giving them the financial freedom to pursue their life goals,” Khai says. “Our tenants have seen a remarkable 65% increase in disposable income.”

He says location, affordability and convenience are key factors for this customer segment when seeking long-term rentals.

Taking into account the importance of proximity to workplaces and education hubs, LiveIn’s properties are situated in areas near city centres and student towns, such as KLCC, Cyberjaya, Seputeh, Subang Jaya and Kampar.

“We provide convenient amenities within the building and regularly organise community activities to promote a strong social network among the tenant community,” he says.

In May, LiveIn announced it had surpassed US$10.95mil in its pre-Series B funding round with an extended top-up investment of US$2.6mil from Korean Investment Partners. The firm stated that the funding will propel its growth across South-East Asia and fuel its aim to create vibrant, affordable communities for young adults in the region.

“We expect to encounter challenges in understanding and navigating cultural differences in market expectations as we expand into new cities and countries,” Khai reveals.

“Besides differing tenant expectations, property owners in different countries also vary in their awareness of LiveIn’s managed rent model.”

He also notes that new locations come with the additional complication of varying building sizes and types that are in oversupply.

“To address these challenges, we will focus on increasing owner engagement levels and refining our back-end systems to launch and operate effectively in new markets,” Khai adds.

“This will enable us to grow sustainably beyond the 10,000-room mark while maintaining high occupancies across all our rooms.”

The company has also been active in forging a number of strategic partnerships with operators to add a range of amenities such as gyms, coworking spaces, laundry services, entertainment and F&B to its vertically integrated buildings.

“They are slated to go live successively this year, and we look forward to making a bigger impact in the market.”