Student resi sales rise, as applications fall

Around £50m of student accommodation stock has been sold across the North West in the first half of this year, contributing to a national total of £2.41bn, Cushman & Wakefield has said.

Figures from the first half of 2017 show a 24% increase on the same period last year.

Based on sales so far, around £4.8bn of student accommodation assets are expected to be transacted by the end of the year, with a number of large portfolio deals potentially pushing this figure even higher.

In a mid-year snapshot of the UK student accommodation investment market, Cushman & Wakefield said there are currently 11,000 bed spaces being marketed to investors totalling £1.20bn. An additional £188m is also under offer.

The data also revealed that despite overall UK and EU applications for places at university being down for 2017/18 by 3.7%, non-EU applications rose by 2.2%.

Mike Mitchell, partner in Cushman & Wakefield’s student and residential investment team, commented: “Across the UK, the purpose built student accommodation market continues to be one of the most attractive asset classes in real estate for investors. Despite applications to universities falling by 3.7%, the sector has witnessed year-on-year rental growth.”

He continued: “Due to the value of foreign currencies against the pound, there has been an influx of capital from overseas buyers in 2017 who are now competing with UK purchasers. Recent deals have seen investors from the Middle East, Singapore, China and Russia.”