Would You Live In A Co-Living Apartment Building?

PLP Architecture, an architecture firm based out of London, has revealed plans to build an innovative co-living high-rise housing building.

The Collective, due to be 112 metres tall, the apartment building will function as a building that is almost all co-lived.

What is co-living?

Co-living means that all areas aside from bedrooms will be co-shared - meaning kitchens, bathrooms and living areas will be shared - the idea being that this will create achievable and maintainable ways for the younger generation of London to enter the real estate market.

"A significant proportion of Londoners can no longer afford to rent or buy in the current housing market," said PLP Architecture.

"Often, they are forced to rent substandard accommodation from part-time landlords who are not concerned with the quality of housing provided.”

Whilst the re-sale value of the apartments has come in to question, the outlay originally will be considerably lower than a normal apartment (considering the square metres owned) thus market movements shouldn’t be as influential.

"This limits housing choice, pushing London's workforce into substandard accommodation in areas they would not choose to live," the firm added. "PLP Architecture have partnered up with the Collective to conceive a new model of housing called 'co-living' which is genuinely affordable to young people living and working in London.”

"It's between student accommodation and a hotel," said Cleaver, who believes co-living could help solve London's housing crisis. "It solves a number of problems. It's safe and well-designed accommodation at an affordable price, but for rent rather than purchase”

The question now remains; would something like this work in Australia?

With property prices in Melbourne and Sydney sky-rocketing to an all-time high, and with first home buyers receiving less benefits than years before - could apartment buildings like this exist?

Australians are generally well educated and well informed when it comes to the housing and apartment markets; and with foreign investment propping the East Coast’s market price, purchasers now face adversity and to some, an inability, when it comes to purchasing in the current climate.

As both state and national Governments attempt to secure our futures, maybe the funds allocated to first home buyers, to which they’ve gone from over $30,000 in 2007, to $10,000 for new homes only in 2015, should be reconsidered.