Private Student Halls – Investors Pile in

The growing popularity of private student halls in the UK has been underlined with news that investors are piling into the sector.

Private residential halls for students have become something of a recent phenomenon with growing numbers of young people deciding to live in better quality accommodation.

For them, there is no better option than living in modern, well designed and comfortable properties.

This means that they will avoid living in traditional student housing which is generally considered to be of poor quality and to share with people they may not get along with.

Now real estate firm Savills has revealed that investment is running at record levels for student housing with more than £4 billion already committed in 2015.

This level of investment is around 70% more than last year’s total and 40% more than the 2012.

Growth in purpose built student accommodation

The firm says that this rapid growth in purpose-built student accommodation is transforming the student housing sector – nothing like it has been seen in the last 25 years.

The leading university towns for investment in private student halls are Bath, Bristol, Manchester and London.

Others in the top tier of student accommodation investment include Oxford, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Brighton, Cardiff and Bournemouth.

In addition to the growing numbers of students going to university from the UK, there’s also a growing student demand from other European and non-European Union countries.

There’s also been a surge in students from overseas wanting to study for their doctorates in the UK and these older students generally want better quality accommodation.

Among the attractions for private residential halls for students are the facilities, better security and maintenance.

Private student halls for single people

It should also be noted that private halls also offer accommodation for single people or in groups and that the bills are all-inclusive which is a popular reason to move into them for young people.

These new purpose-built private student halls also allow a young person to live in them for the duration of their university studies without the need for finding new accommodation every year.

Savills also notes that the popularity of higher ranking universities is also leading to more purpose-built student accommodation being created in those towns.
That’s because, with the removal on the cap on student fees, students are looking for better quality institutions to study at. Lower ranking universities are seeing a fall in student applications.

This growing demand is encouraging investors to invest in private student halls to help universities cope with the demand because these situations are struggling with housing growing numbers.

In addition, while private student halls can be slightly more expensive than other residential student properties, many students and their parents are prepared to pay a premium to enjoy the high quality and better level of maintenance and support.