Benefits From Investment into Student Housing

Student housing is a type of investment that brings long-term income streams, along with rental growth prospects and high occupancy rates. Demand for student housing is stable and it’s rising constantly. In the UK, the number of students is ten times higher than the rate of new supply and in London the difference is 15 times. In average, rents grew by 5 per cent in 2007-2009, and for private sector the figures were even higher; taking into consideration the great demand for private accommodation, the rents are expected to grow further over the next year. The company gives only three potentially negative comments on student housing sector, which, however, can be managed by the investor without any difficulty. Firstly, according to the housing of multiple occupancy rules (HMO) buying an old house, which is intended to be used for students’ accommodation, results in landlord’s obedience of strict local authority rules and regulations or severe fines. Secondly, Assetz advice is to invest in housing, which is situated in core student area as it might be difficult for peripheral housing to compete with well-located and developed areas. Thirdly, there is a possibility of a negative effect of the credit crunch on government investment into education. However, specialists say that the UK is extremely popular with foreign students who will still come to Britain and bolster university incomes. So, most likely the change will only mean a bigger number and ratio of foreign students vs. UK students. The type of possible student housing depends on your preferences. If you want to get the highest yields you should choose student traditional housing. If you want totally hands-off investment, the right choice is purpose-built student housing when private halls or residences are sold as individual cluster apartments (one common living area and kitchen plus clusters of bedrooms around it). These cluster apartments are very convenient for the investor as there is an operator of the hall who carries out all the work.