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NYC is the highest-revenue and lowest-margin major US coliving market. LL18 + MDL constraints force 30-day-plus tenancy in Class A buildings, capped at 3 unrelated adults per dwelling unit. The compliant model exists (Common ran it at scale before its 2024 Chapter 7, a case study in the economics as much as the compliance) but the capex and operational compliance overhead are the highest in any market we cover.
RevPAB (monthly)
$1,100-$1,500
ADR (per bed-night)
$36-$50
Stabilized occupancy
88-93%
Avg length of stay
11 months
Property OpEx ratio
55-65% of revenue (compliance-heavy)
Cap rate range
4.5-5.5% (stabilized, capital-attractive even at low yield)
Target IRR
8-12% (5-year hold)
Wall Street + NYC tech ecosystem (Google NYC, Meta, Bloomberg, ~20k fintech). Younger members of these populations are coliving's natural NYC tenant base. 9-14 month average stays.
Mount Sinai, NYU Langone, Memorial Sloan Kettering, significant pool of nurses, residents, fellows in 1-3 year contracts. Coliving captures this 'between roommates and a real apartment' segment.
Younger creative professionals priced out of solo apartments. Brooklyn room-rental product in Bushwick / Bed-Stuy captures this segment.
Columbia, NYU, CUNY graduate programmes. International students typically 2-year stays.
~2,500 operator-led coliving beds across the 5 boroughs. Bungalow and Outsite run 30-day-plus product. The Common (Chapter 7, 2024), Bedly and WeLive failures demonstrate the model's compliance challenges. New supply growing in Brooklyn (Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights), Queens (LIC, Astoria), Manhattan supply essentially flat.
Real estate institutional capital active in Class A-NYC product (Carlyle, Blackstone Realty have evaluated coliving allocations). Boutique sponsor capital harder to source given compliance overhead. NYC banks (Signature, Webster) lend at 6.5-8.0% with strong covenants.
Most legally permissive product but Class B inventory is essentially fixed. Acquisition opportunities limited; existing inventory trades at premium.
The archetype Common used before its collapse. Lease whole apartments / floors in Class A buildings; structure as residential furnished tenancy; cap unrelated at 3 per unit. Compliance-heavy but legally clean.
Brooklyn / Queens 6-20 unit buildings in pre-1974 stock, rent stabilisation exposure but compliant 30-day-plus product layered on top. Cap rates closer to 5.0-6.0%.
$1,100-$1,500 per bed per month at stabilization. Manhattan premium product reaches $1,800-$2,200. Brooklyn/Queens compliant product runs $1,000-$1,300.
Compliance overhead. LL18 registration, OSE inspections, MDL classification verification, fire-safety upgrades, and NYC commercial residential insurance running 3x standard. The compliant operator has 8-12% lower operating margin than equivalent product in Austin.
Only in Class B inventory (SRO / hotel classification) and Class B is effectively a fixed pool. New Class A → B conversions are blocked since the 2010 SRO moratorium. The realistic answer for new entrants: 30-day-plus only.
4.5-5.5% on stabilized institutional-grade product. Capital is willing to accept thin yield because of NYC's demand depth and credit quality.
Mayank Pokharna · Founder, Everything Coliving
13 years in coliving · Reviewed by the Everything Coliving team
Last reviewed: 2026-05-11. Benchmarks refreshed quarterly. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
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