The Rise of the Living Ecosystem: How Australia’s Housing Future Is Blurring the Boundaries

The walls between traditional residential sectors are coming down as developers and investors rethink how Australians live and rent.

New thought leadership from Colliers has revealed the emergence of a ‘Living ecosystem’ - an integrated model spanning BTR Student Accommodation, Co-Living, Retirement living, and Affordable Housing within a single adaptable framework.

Colliers National Living Team Associate Director, Jade Grantham, said the concept provides flexibility and reflects how people live today.

“It gives Australians more choice across different life stages, offering professionally managed, service-driven homes that evolve as people do,” Mrs Grantham said.

“Rather than viewing each sector in isolation, this concept demonstrates the nuances and operational similarities across the board.

Mrs Grantham said that deep-seated structural factors, rather than short-term trends, were behind the changes in housing demand.

“A combination of population growth, structural undersupply, and demographic change is reshaping housing demand,” she said.

With first-home buyers now averaging 35 years old, the needs of students, key workers, young families,retirees, and migrants are increasingly overlapping.

This convergence is creating strong demand for housing that is diverse, flexible, and underpinned by institutional ownership, professional management, and community-driven design.

“At the same time, shifting work patterns, migration, and lifestyle preferences were blurring the lines between traditional resident groups, from students and key workers to downsizers and divorcees,” she said.

For investors, the convergence of residential sectors offers scale, resilience, and broad exposure to Australia’s $11 trillion residential market.

Sectors such as PBSA and BTR, once considered as alternatives, are now attracting institutional capital through multi-living strategies that combine different housing typologies under a single integrated platform.

“Mature sectors like PBSA and Retirement Living are a way of unlocking regional locations and smaller markets such as Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra,” she said.

“The convergence of these models gives investors the ability to deliver mandate-level returns while building long-term, stabilised portfolios nationally.”

Developers are being challenged to create adaptable, future-proofed projects that can pivot as markets respond to changing trends and resident demands.

Increasingly, housing is being viewed as a service aligned with lifestyle, convenience, and community, requiring projects that meet the evolving expectations of residents.

“The next generation of projects will need to be tenure-agnostic, designed with inherent flexibility as demographics and market conditions shift,” she said.

“The point is not to ‘crystal ball’ into the future, but instead adapt as resident profiles evolve over time, ensuring longevity through multiple market cycles. This means shared amenity, modular layouts, and operational efficiency at the core of design thinking.”

For developers and investors willing to embrace flexibility and consider the crossover and potential integration of these sectors, the opportunity is clear: diversified, resilient portfolios that meet the evolving needs of residents and communities.

The greatest opportunity, according to Mrs Grantham, is in the ‘missing middle’ - high-quality mid-market rental products that address the affordability gap.

“Equally, there’s significant value in mixed-use precincts that operate as destinations in their own right, integrating living, retail, hospitality, and workspaces within one cohesive ecosystem,” she said.

“For capital, it’s about capturing the full spectrum of potential demand within a diversified Living platform as well as the operational upside from scale.”