Overview
Common Living packaged urban rental housing around private rooms, shared spaces, furnishings, and centralized management. It later managed conventional apartments and other housing brands as well. The company raised more than USD110 million by September 2020 and joined Habyt in a deal announced in January 2023. Common filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on May 31, 2024. Habyt's other operations continued. 2020 company announcement 2023 merger announcement Parent closure statement
The failure concerns a property operating business, rather than a listing website alone. Technology could support leasing and resident communication, but buildings still needed maintenance, staff, landlord agreements, and dependable service. The evidence shows substantial expansion and an eventual closure. It does not provide audited building economics or establish one cause that explains every location.
Founding Story
Brad Hargreaves founded Common in 2015 after co-founding General Assembly. In a later interview, he said people moving to expensive cities for training often needed rooms rather than whole apartments. Common tried to make that search and the resulting roommate experience more predictable. Its first Brooklyn property, Common Pacific, had nineteen rooms. Founder retrospective 2019 founder interview
Hargreaves described the ambition in 2019: “We design and run apartments that make living in cities easier, more affordable and more fun.” This was the product promise, rather than a measured affordability finding. A furnished room's value still depended on its full rent, local alternatives, and the service residents received. 2019 founder interview
Timeline
- 2015: Common started with shared housing in Brooklyn. 2019 founder interview
- September 2020: The company announced a USD50 million Series D led by Kinnevik and more than USD110 million raised cumulatively. 2020 company announcement
- April 2021: Common reported taking over more than 2,000 units from other managers over twelve months. These included conventional apartments and individual co-living bedrooms. 2021 expansion reporting
- June 2021: Common acquired Starcity's management business. Hargreaves said development assets and master lease obligations did not fit its model. 2021 founder interview
- August 2022: Hargreaves stepped down as CEO; Karlene Holloman succeeded him. Parent closure statement
- January 2023: The Habyt combination was announced, with Luca Bovone leading the group and Holloman leading North America. Profitability during 2023 was an aim. 2023 merger announcement
- May 31, 2024: Common Living, Inc. filed its Delaware Chapter 7 case. Reproduced docket header
- June 2024: Outpost described taking over selected properties and negotiating further landlord agreements. Property transition reporting
What They Built
Common combined property design, leasing, and management. Shared apartments generally paired private bedrooms with common kitchens and living areas. The portfolio expanded to traditional apartments, workforce housing through Noah, and family housing through Kin, later called Mily. This broadened the job from serving roommates to running several kinds of residential property. 2020 company announcement 2021 founder interview
The company preferred management agreements to master leases. Under the former approach, it managed properties for owners rather than promising a fixed long-term lease payment and reselling shorter stays. Hargreaves publicly defended that distinction in 2021 as competitors struggled. It reduced one kind of exposure; it did not eliminate the costs of running a dispersed management organization. 2021 founder interview
Portfolio statistics require care. In April 2021, Common counted a conventional apartment as one unit and a shared apartment's bedrooms individually. Planned developments also differed from housing already managed. The 2020 release's roughly 17,600 units under development cannot be treated as occupied inventory or paying residents. 2021 expansion reporting 2020 company announcement
Market Position
Target Customers
Residents sought a furnished place in an expensive city with fewer setup tasks. Owners and developers sought leasing and operating expertise. Those groups could judge success differently: an owner's occupancy target did not establish resident satisfaction or reliable maintenance.
Market Size
Common pursued a broad housing problem, but that does not establish its reachable revenue. Management fees depend on contracts, occupied rooms or apartments, rents, and service costs. The reviewed materials do not provide a comparable series for those variables. A pipeline of future units is an opportunity claim rather than current revenue.
Competition
Alternatives included conventional property managers, roommate listings, owner-operated buildings, and other co-living firms. Common took over competitors' properties as the category consolidated. That made acquisition an expansion route, while also importing relationships and operational work that still needed local execution. 2021 expansion reporting 2021 founder interview
Hargreaves later contrasted Common's management agreements with owner-operators holding underlying property assets. That difference allocates investment risk and control differently; it does not establish that either structure always works. thesis
Current software also covers much of residential administration. Buildium offers maintenance, resident communications, project templates, and inspections. AppFolio includes work orders and unit turns. A new software proposal must show a task those existing systems leave costly or incomplete. maintenance appfolio
Business Model
Common's main proposition to owners was a managed residential operation with technology supporting leasing and service. The company promoted an asset-light structure and expected growth through owner partnerships. Its September 2020 financing announcement confirms a round and a cumulative funding lower bound at that date. It does not establish lifetime investor loss. 2020 company announcement
At filing, reported assets fell in the USD1 million–10 million range and liabilities in the USD10 million–50 million range. These are petition estimates, not a final recovery statement or an exact valuation. The reviewed sources do not disclose a dependable revenue series, management fee schedule, or final creditor distributions. Bankruptcy reporting
Outcome and evolution
Habyt's CEO confirmed Common's closure and cited contract structure, operating pressure, and rising costs in contemporary coverage. Those are attributed explanations. The parent said its remaining business would continue; this is not evidence that Habyt globally shut down. Parent closure statement
Some buildings continued under new managers. Outpost said it had taken over seven Common properties before the filing, while other agreements remained in negotiation. This was a property-by-property transition, rather than a completed acquisition of the whole operating company. Property transition reporting
In his later retrospective, Hargreaves said: “I don’t think it works well as a scalable property-management business.” He still considered co-living useful for consumers. His changed assessment helps explain the difference between a housing product people may want and the organization needed to operate it across cities. It is the founder's interpretation, not a universal verdict on shared housing. Founder retrospective
Today the historical common.com domain redirects to a domain-sale page. Habyt has a separate current accommodation website. Neither establishes continuity of the original Common service. domain habyt
Key Lessons
Count operating obligations alongside managed units. A larger portfolio adds local service work even when the company does not own the buildings.
Keep pipeline, occupied inventory, bedrooms, and apartments separate. A blended growth number can hide changes in the actual operating workload.
A management agreement changes risk allocation but still needs sufficient fees, local staffing, and service quality. Contract structure alone cannot establish profitability.
Plan the operator handoff before a crisis. Owners and incoming managers need a clear account of open repairs, resident contacts, access responsibilities, and unresolved records.
Sources
- Common primary financing announcement, September 23, 2020.
- Common primary merger announcement, January 10, 2023.
- Bisnow original closure reporting and parent statement, June 3, 2024.
- Bisnow founder interview, June 3, 2019.
- Bisnow founder interview, June 13, 2021.
- Bisnow original expansion reporting, April 21, 2021.
- Camber Creek original founder interview; accessed October 23, 2026.
- Founder-written introduction, February 23, 2024; full subscriber interview unavailable.
- Inforuptcy reproduction of court docket header; accessed October 23, 2026.
- Commercial Observer original filing reporting, June 3, 2024.
- Bisnow original Outpost transition reporting, June 5, 2024.
- Historical domain redirects to Hilco domain sale; accessed October 23, 2026.
- Buildium primary current pricing; accessed October 23, 2026.
- Buildium primary current maintenance product; accessed October 23, 2026.
- AppFolio primary current pricing and features; accessed October 23, 2026.
- Habyt current separate website; accessed October 23, 2026.