Housr: Providing a respite from urban loneliness

Co-living is the new way for people to live in the cities and escape urban loneliness, being structured to provide comfort, convenience and a genuine sense of community living. Housr, a leading name in the segment in Delhi-NCR, provides fully furnished and serviced studios/apartments for tech-savvy urban professionals who like to work, network, laugh and live together. “The moment one enters a Housr residence, you feel a connection, making you feel at home. We started our business in the year 2018 with one centre; we now have more than 30 centres across India,” says Deepak Anand, co-founder and CEO, Housr.

After consolidating the co-living business, Housr identified in the last few months a definite gap in the market in the supply and affordability of premium serviced apartments in India. They were either beyond the reach of young individuals/couples or not available around key commercial areas.

Even with the availability of such apartments, getting basic uninterrupted services like laundry, daily housekeeping and high-speed Wi-Fi from day one was a task for working couples. Thus, Housr Homes provides such facilities before a person moves in, that too at affordable rates. “Housr decided to launch this product after carving a niche for itself in the co-living domain. Housr Homes targets couples, small families and high-earning urban professionals who are in need of such personal spaces,” says Anand.

Talking about the pandemic which was a headwind for a majority of businesses, he says, “we did see face setbacks in occupancy but we survived the unprecedented times.” He stresses that Housr has always been a tech-first entity, and this allows it to “anticipate and plan well on creating the right supply pipeline.”

This is also behind Housr’s hyper growth in the last 18-24 months, scaling from three properties to 30+ properties and spreading to cities like Gurgaon, Pune and Hyderabad. “As demand started to rise again, we were ready with premium supply for discerning customers who were looking for hygienic and fully managed spaces with great community vibes. We ran our properties at an overall aggregated occupancy of 80%+ throughout 2021.”

Housr provides professionally graded sanitation facilities with no-touch housekeeping; healthy meals prepared in hygienic cloud kitchens by professional chefs; work from home compatible desks; and gym, cafeteria, and a gaming zone so that residents don’t have to step out of the property.

“We aim to expand further in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune and launch more properties in Delhi, Mumbai, Noida and Bangalore. Taking Housr Coliving (hubs) and Housr Homes together, we are looking at 70+ properties and 12,000+ beds by 2022 end. While we have adequate reserves for now, we are working to raise a fresh round of growth capital,” Anand adds.