OYO Enters Long-Term Housing Rentals With OYO Living, Targets Millennials

Hospitality company OYO Hotels has announced its entry into the long-term fully managed housing rentals, named OYO Living, aimed at eliminating the hassles of finding, accessing and managing everyday housing.

“These accommodations are easy to find and easier to live in, where all OYO Living residents can experience the benefits of shared spaces at an affordable price,” the company said in a statement.

It plans on operating such housing spaces in Noida, Gurugram, Bengaluru and Pune with more than 35 properties and 2,000 beds. It further aims to expand in the top 10 metros by the end of 2019 with 50,000 beds. Its monthly rental plan starts from $109 (INR 7,999) per bed.

According to OYO Hotels CEO and founder Ritesh Agarwal, OYO Living was conceptualised based on the feedback and demand from customers and asset partners.

The company said that OYO Living will help residents save on brokerage, lock-in periods, and the hassle of searching house helps and support services involved while moving to a new residence — while taking full control of the asset owner’s property with guaranteed rental yields.

Affordable Housing – A Glimmer Of Hope

The hospitality company maintains that its new category, OYO Living, is targeted towards India’s young professionals to provide them with upgraded living experiences at an affordable price.

Meanwhile, the number of new housing projects are growing.

The latest report by Anarock Property Consultants says that housing projects across seven key cities went up by 10% in the first half of 2018 as compared to last year. While Knight Frank report suggests a net rise of 46% in new launches at 91,739 housing units during the same period.

On the other hand, targeting students, Stanza Living provides affordable accommodation and services — such as food, WiFi, laundry, security, etc — in Delhi/NCR, and are preparing to launch in Pune, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Indore. Placio also offers modern living spaces, fully furnished rooms, private rooms and personal apartments near localities and university campuses.

Similarly, there are startups such as NestAway, Homigo, CoLive offering various accommodation services.

OYO started to pilot OYO Living during mid-2018. Agarwal aims to seize this opportunity to become India’s biggest provider of housing to the millennials.

“We saw this as a huge opportunity and decided to leverage our hospitality experience to offer a first of its kind end-to-end fully managed living experience,” the statement cited Agarwal as saying.