Chinese home rentals platform Ziroom taps ‘huge demand’ for student digs abroad

Ziroom, one of the largest home rental platforms in China, is looking to tap overseas markets by providing student accommodation for the growing number of young Chinese opting to study abroad.

Its first stops outside the mainland are Hong Kong and the UK. Ziroom has about 10,000 units available to rent in the former and more than 100,000 in the latter via its new platform, Zabit. The units are mostly located within walking distance of universities.

Ziroom said it is poised to launch some 190,000 units in the US, Canada, Japan, and Australia.

“More families in China have hopes that their children will have experience studying or living overseas, and some Chinese brands dispatch their staff overseas as they expand globally,” said Meng Yue, general manager of Ziroom’s asset management platform, who also heads the company’s overseas business.

He cited the record 13 million Chinese students who sat the national university entrance examination, or gaokao, this year, who could translate into potential tenants when they graduate in four years’ time.

The market size, given that more than a million Chinese go abroad to study each year, is above 100 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion), a figure that will continue to grow as their numbers increase, he estimated.