Roughly half a decade has elapsed since LHN marked its pivot into co-living with Coliwoo – which has now become a flagship brand for the mainboard-listed real estate manager.
The performance of the co-living business “is a good reflection of a good transformation from the traditional leasing business into real estate as a service”, executive chairman and group managing director Kelvin Lim told The Business Times.
The former timber trading company switched to the real estate business in 2001 and now describes its core business as “space optimisation” in industrial, commercial, and residential properties. Other business arms include facilities management, especially in the car-park arena; and a fledgling energy resources unit, which installs solar panels and provides electric vehicle charging.
Having set an ambitious annual target of adding 800 co-living keys for the next three years, how can LHN keep growth sustainable as it expands the residential arm and its other verticals?
The company introduced the Coliwoo brand in 2019 with its tenancy of a state-owned property in Boon Lay. That same year, LHN also secured co-living operator Hmlet – which is now doing business as Habyt – as the tenant for another property in Cantonment Road.
LHN’s Singapore co-living portfolio now comprises 1,851 master-lease keys and 550 that are owned by the group or part of a joint venture (JV), as at mid-2024.
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“Anywhere there is a requirement for co-living, we will definitely invest,” Lim said, adding these could be in areas on the city fringe or near business parks and schools – even in Jurong or Changi.
LHN finally completed the purchase of the strata-titled GSM Building in Middle Road in May – ending a months-long hold-up caused by minority unit owners’ objections to the sale price. The group has already secured permission to change the use of the building’s third through sixth floors to serviced apartments, and the property is expected to start operations next year.
Other Coliwoo-branded projects slated for 2025 include serviced apartments on the site of the former Bukit Timah Fire Station, as well as shophouse units in Arab Street. That is even as LHN just closed off its latest financial year with serviced apartment launches in River Valley.
Co-living had already contributed some S$20 million to the top line in the six months to March 31 – more than one-third of group revenue for that period. Lim told BT that co-living could make up about two-thirds of revenue in the next three to five years.
More importantly, the co-living segment anchors the group’s bottom line. It contributed S$10.7 million in pre-tax profit in the same reporting period – or more than two-thirds of the group’s half-year profit before tax from continuing and discontinued operations combined. Lim added: “Who knows, we will have other new concepts that will be very relevant to our day-to-day living.”
Hostels for foreign workers
In late August, LHN started running two hostels as part of a government-linked pilot housing plan for foreign healthcare workers who are working in public healthcare institutions.
Calling the 700-bed venture an interesting project, Lim said that he sees LHN “elevating the usual dormitory standard”, which has traditionally housed construction and marine sector labourers.
While typical dormitories serve blue-collar workers and co-living rentals cater to white-collar professionals, “we are targeting more (those who are) maybe in between blue and white”, he noted.
Asked whether LHN plans to open more of such projects, Lim replied that the company has “no visibility” on potential contracts for now, but “we will definitely look out” for opportunities. “For example, in Singapore, the bus captains should also adopt these kind of (housing) models,” he said, calling new dormitory-style living for bus drivers “something we are trying to canvass”.
Business growth comes with a price tag, of course.
Gearing rose to 58.1 per cent, as at end-March 2024, from 56.2 per cent six months prior. The management has attributed the increase to bank borrowings to buying properties in River Valley Road and Rangoon Road, as well as renovation costs and working capital.
Refurbishing old properties
With his eye on the balance sheet, Lim disclosed that the company is scouting for family offices or individual investors who could buy older or smaller buildings from its portfolio. “We can sell them and lease back and continue to manage (the properties). Then we can recycle the capital into bigger projects,” he said, noting that those would offer greater economy of scale.
On Oct 15, LHN put three freehold co-living properties up for sale with a guide price of S$120 million in all. It had bought 115 Geylang Road for S$13.5 million and 471 Balestier Road via a JV for S$15 million, both in 2021. It bought 404 Pasir Panjang Road for S$30 million in 2022.
The buildings can be purchased individually or together, “with or without Coliwoo management, or via the benefit of a master lease”, the company said. Two are managed by Habyt, while the third trades under the Coliwoo name.
Under its capital recycling strategy, “the company focuses on refurbishing old and underutilised properties… strategically monetising them through opportunities such as sale-and-leaseback arrangements”, LHN said, noting that it does not expect any significant impact to its co-living business operations.
Sale proceeds will likely go towards financing new acquisitions and repaying borrowings, as well as for working capital, LHN added.
Given high labour and other operating costs, Lim believes that it makes the most sense for co-living facilities to be run out of properties that can offer at least 150 to 200 rooms.
But, even though LHN has been touting a preference for an asset-light approach, Lim acknowledged that suitable properties may be hard to come by in Singapore. “You need to somehow acquire some older buildings to retrofit. That’s why we buy. So, with a combination of master lease and purchase, we can then achieve what we are today.”
JV purchases are another strategy. Earlier this year, LHN snagged Wilmer Place in Armenian Street in a 50-50 deal with Oxley chief executive Ching Chiat Kwong. That deal went hand in hand with the sale of a 40 per cent stake in the car park at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre.
At the same time, Lim has ruled out a potential exit from any businesses other than a small office/home office (SOHO) project in the troubled Myanmar market.
Despite the Bukit Timah Shopping Centre divestment, Lim said that LHN is sticking with the car-park business – and could still do more acquisitions.
LHN manages 94 car parks islandwide, as at end-June, with one owned by a JV and the rest under contract. The car park management portfolio in Singapore spans more than 25,000 lots altogether.
Lim also expects the car-park management industry to be reinvigorated by the ongoing rollout of the navigation satellite-based Electronic Road Pricing (ERP 2.0) system for motorists. For instance, he said that LHN is studying how parking payment-related mobile apps could lead to new business opportunities in the car park operation business, although he did not go into specifics.
As Lim summed up the business model: “We target old buildings to repurpose and lease it out for recurring income – we’ve been doing that for the last 27 years – and the facilities management (arm) will then run the facilities of each property in the most efficient and economical way.”
Lim pointed out that LHN had earlier ventured into serviced offices “but we were not very successful”. Instead, “the concept of real estate as a service grew for us after 2015, when we started our self-storage business”, he said, referring to the Work+Store brand aimed at small businesses.
While the traditional self-storage sector targets individual customers who want to store excess belongings, LHN saw unmet need from e-commerce retailers who need warehouse space.
“We created storage space. We created packing areas. We even created co-working facilities… so it’s very useful and cost-saving for (clients),” Lim noted, adding that this model proved a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic when physical stores were shuttered and online shopping prevailed.
As Lim concluded: “Our main business didn’t change; we are still optimising space.”
