SilverDoor report shows serviced apartment sector growth but strain on supply

UK: SilverDoor’s latest State of the Market Review 2022, has shown global demand for the sector has continued to grow but with a strain on supply.

Further investment in the industry means supply is increasing in all international markets and “the journey to improved availability has begun.”

Simon Forgeau’s SilverDoor blog on the State of the Market Review, 2022, builds an in-depth picture. Here are the key points.

Longer Stays Larger Spaces

International leisure and business travel is back and corporations are catching up on lost time and looking for longer stays and larger spaces. There is increasing demand for two and three-bedroom apartments, as well as apartments featuring workspaces.

Length of Stay

According to SilverDoor reservations, the average length of stay has increased by 27 per cent, growing from 33 to 42 nights between 2021 and 2022. However with the travel disruption there has also been a rise in “stay extensions”, often caused by visa delays, difficulties in finding long-term rentals, and delayed shipping container deliveries for those who are relocating.

Strain on Availability

Availability in certain regions has become scarce, and rates are rising accordingly. For example Singapore has seen very high demand as this location is now preferred for many SilverDoor clients over Hong Kong — this is to do with Chinese corporations relocating some employees outside of China to aid international trade and rise of e-commerce leading to people being able to work abroad. New York has seen high bookings with availability falling behind. This is largely due to the upcoming New York market, UNGA (United Nations General Assembly), and the US Open — all in August and September.

City Centre Spread

According to SilverDoor’s report the demand for serviced apartments outside city centres is growing — because of a rise in city rates. For shorter stays corporates need to be near central offices and because of this strong demand Silverdoor has seen 18.5 per cent average increase in serviced accommodation rates in major cities. As a result, demand is spreading outside city centres — particularly for longer stays.

ESG

This year’s Global Serviced Apartment Industry Report highlighted corporations’ focus on, ESG, and safety. SilverDoor has found that in response, more detailed sustainability information from operators has been added to its system, allowing bookers to view their sustainability options more clearly.

Region by Region

EMEA: The region has seen rapid expansion with 31,566 new serviced apartment units in over 1,000 different locations since December 2019. This is an increase of 11.5 per cent and 11.3 per ent respectively over the three previous years (source: GSAIR, 2021). Europe is the second largest region for serviced apartments, with Germany and the UK leading the way. Investor development and awareness has seen Stuttgart and Belfast serviced apartment units increase by 372 per cent and 337 per cent, respectively. The Ukranian refugee crisis has seen occupancy in some European countries sky rocket including Hungary, Poland, Romania and Dublin.

SilverDoor recently opened its first office in Spain — which also has easy access to the LATM market with frequent flights to the region.

APAC: Key points in this region are largely based around the relaxing of Covid restrictions, but still abiding to Covid rules on entering certain countries. For example, there are still restrictions around travel insurance and negative rapid flow tests, for fully vaccinated travellers to some parts of the region including the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia. In some APAC countries, like China and Hong Kong, Covid cases are on the increase, affecting travel and demand. This then has a knock-on effect pushing companies outside of those areas into other parts of the region — notably Singapore.

SilverDoor’s Andy McCrow, head of market development, APAC says: “The increasing demand in Singapore may be a result of the COVID situation in Hong Kong, and the increased influence of Beijing over its local politics, encouraging businesses to consider shifting their investments outside of China. 34 per cent of firms state they are looking to potentially relocate from China to other areas of Asia, with 47 per cent of those looking at Southeast Asia. Singapore could be well on its way to becoming the regional APAC hub.”

McCrow adds: “Singapore has removed restrictions on group sizes, lifted the mask requirements in outdoor settings, allowed all employees back into the office, and now allows fully vaccinated travellers to enter Singapore without COVID testing beforehand.
This seems to deter travel into the regions, posing issues to business travel in the areas. On the other hand, Singapore and Tokyo have been benefiting from heavy demand, leading to them running at extremely high occupancies.”

LATAM: According to SilverDoor’s State of the Market Review 2022, demand in Latin America is driven by multinationals primarily based in the US and Canada. The market lends itself to corporate housing and serviced apartments with companies establishing themselves in the region. The multinationals are consultancy firms, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), tech and telecoms organisations. SilverDoor says its clients in the region are asking for longer stays in larger spaces with demand increasing for two- or three-bedroom apartments outside city centres. The LATAM market has also seen rapid demand in smaller cities. According to GSAIR’s report, 40 per cent of the demand in Mexico has come from outside the capital. Similarly, in Brazil, São Polo only makes up half of the market, which is a decrease from previous years. Buenos Aires and Lima are witnessing a decrease in demand.

AMERCIAS: The US market has seen a growing demand for longer stays and North America and Canada now has more than 665,350 serviced apartment units in 8,423 locations. This is an 11 per cent and 10.7 per cent increase since 2020, respectively. With growing demand, SilverDoor says early indications demonstrate that, similar to LATAM, limited mid-price and upscale supply growth may create turbulence in the market as demand grows rapidly.

In the US extended stay and aparthotels popularity has grown year-on-year with an increase of 34.1 per cent for upscale accommodation, compared with 16.6 per cent and 8.8 per cent for mid-price and economy. SilverDoor has seen a growing demand for more spacious apartments.

The full summary of the report can be found on the SilverDoor blog by Simon Forgeau. SilverDoor recently shared key trends in the sector with the Institute of Travel Management.

This story was originally posted on September 2nd, 2022 on servicedapartmentnews.com

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