Arms Race is Over: Era of Pared-Back BtR Rolls Out

Build-to-rent has been at the forefront of a wellness arms race, played out in rooftop pools, infrared saunas and residents-only podcast booths. It was a charm offensive aimed at leasing up the building to cashed-up renters. But that logic is now facing scrutiny. Operators are sitting on utilisation data that paints a more complex picture and a new wave of typologies, such as co-living, affordable housing and key-worker accommodation, is asking entirely different questions of the design brief. DKO Architecture director Raymond Mah has watched this shift from the inside. His practice recently delivered the Indi Southbank tower in Melbourne—a project that began life as build-to-sell before being redesigned from the ground up as a build-to-rent asset, requiring wholesale rethinking of how the building would actually be lived in. ▲ The project was reworked by DKO from build-to-sell to build-to-rent, refocusing space on individual apartments rather than communal amenities. “It was almost a new building entirely, really,” Mah says. Working with operator Indi, DKO recut the floorplates, increased density and rebuilt the podium, adding about 4sq m of communal space per apartment. Mah said demographic research had helped to inform the fundamental shift in apartment mix to accommodate singles and young professionals. The design also had to absorb the realities of 100 per cent renter turnover: five loading docks, reconfigured lift cores and a more hotel-like approach to move-in logistics. “With 100 per cent of the residents being renters, there’s naturally going to be a lot of Mahgeover. We almost had to design it like it was a hotel building,” Mah says. The data problem with amenity It is in the amenity conversation that the underlying thinking has shifted most dramatically. A few years ago, the benchmark was always more amenity. The arms race was real—and it was expensive. Now, operators who have been running buildings for several years have something they didn’t have at the start: usage data. And that data is, in some cases, white-anting the support for lavish communal programs. “The feedback we’re hearing is a lot of these spaces are great at the initial leasing stage but then the uptake actually drops off. If it does get used, it would be a very small group that regularly uses it,” Mah says. Fob access data provides a real-time picture of what resonates with residents. This data is used to inform the next wave of design for build-to-rent communities. ▲ Salta’s first build-to-rent project Fitzroy &amp; Co under its platform Est. in Fitzroy North. The result is a growing appetite to redirect budget toward the apartment itself. “Most of our clients are now prioritising making sure the apartments are right,” Mah says. And the numbers are beginning to bear this out at a sector level. The sector is forecast to reach 21,096 units across 51 completed projects by the end of 2026—marking a structural shift from pipeline-led narrative to operational evidence. According to data from the Franklin St. Q1 2026 report, amenity is crucial, but its warning to the market is “don’t overdo it”. ▲ Rendering of the exterior entry and the pool amenities at LIV Anura at Newstead. The report also said that operations are working most efficiently at the 250–350 unit scale, with projects larger than this “taking time to lease up and delivering considerable amounts of amenity which need to be maintained”. In fact, sometimes smaller is better. Franklin St. monitors about 550 rental listings a month across 52 buildings. It notes that smaller projects such as Est. Fitzroy may have fewer amenities but can still command the same kind of rents as its richer cousins, thanks to its premium location. Median Melbourne rents across the build-to-rent pool (three-month sample, unfurnished) are $655pw for studios, $720pw for one-bedrooms, $923pw for two-bedroom, two-bathroom units, and $1302pw for three-bedrooms. Co-living: a stripped-back cousin Co-living operates from fundamentally different assumptions. There are often no dedicated kitchens in individual units; instead, communal facilities are provided. The tenures are about six months rather than a year, which is more common in build-to-rent. It also has more of a focus on key workers and people in transitional circumstances rather than inner-city lifestyle seekers. “It’s more stripped back—there wouldn’t be that much to entertain. So mainly communal kitchens, communal dining and gyms,” Mah says. DKO is working on co-living projects in Preston and Heidelberg, both located near employment hubs. The logic of the asset follows the logic of its residents: practical, temporary, affordable. It is build-to-rent distilled to its essentials. With planning reforms finally translating into approvals on the ground in Victoria and a major mixed-use urban village near Moonee Valley Racecourse keeping DKO busy through 2026, Mah is cautiously optimistic. The market, he suggests, is finding its footing—and its priorities. “The planning tailwinds we’ve been promised are finally coming into reality. When there are enough uncertainties out in the market, you really want certainty on the planning front.”

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Taryn Paris
Fri 29 May 26

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