Following the release of our latest report we dived a little deeper into the topic of affordability in an article Perception vs. Reality.
What we uncovered was:
- There’s much more to it than just price—it’s also about matching expectations
- It’s highly subjective and differs vastly amongst students
So with so many different student age groups, cultures and economic backgrounds to cater for - all with varying levels of expectations and budgets - how can you possibly cater for them all and, more importantly, how do you know you are getting it right?
Price vs. average ratings
As we know the assessment of value for money can be very different from one person to the next so we looked at the data to see if anything stood out.
The chart below shows average ratings for value for money vs. the total number of buildings within each price bracket.
Count of UK buildings offering tenancies in the 23/24 academic year by pricing bracket based on minimum
weekly tenancy price per building. Average ratings of value for money from 54,000+ verified student reviews. Source: StudentCrowd data
As you can see, the highest price bracket rooms had the highest average score for value for money closely followed by the lowest and second lowest price bracket. The lowest scoring price bracket for value for money was £150-£199 price per week which is also the bracket with the most buildings.
The above table was based on more than 54,000 reviews and a small change in the average is significant. Before jumping to conclusions and assuming we should focus on either end of the price bracket scale, we should consider the possibility that lived experience influences affordability more than delivering on expectations.
The dip in satisfaction for the third bracket, according to reviews, relates to:
- Students who are at the higher end of their budget (potentially paying more than they wanted to) and are not getting the wow factor from their accommodation.
- Premium price buildings that aren’t quite hitting all the markers to command a premium price. For example, 65% of reviews mention issues with facilities being under-delivered.
- A premium product and location without a great team to provide delivery. 28% of reviews scoring value with only 1 star mention issues with staff.
Bristol market - at a glance
In our first article, Perception vs Reality, we identified that private accommodation in Bristol was on average £185 per week more expensive than university-owned halls (based on median of minimum tenancy price per hall for 24/25 academic year per location).
Bristol has one of the worst shortages of PBSA in the UK and with demand high, this inevitably drives up price.
We looked at average ratings for value for money Vs the total number of buildings within each price bracket specifically for Bristol to identify if it followed a similar trend to the national chart we presented earlier.
Overall, the average value for money score is 7% lower for Bristol compared to nationally. The highest price bracket are still the most satisfied but the least satisfied group for Bristol are within the second price bracket (£100-£149 per week) with an average score of 3.32.
Value for money ratings for Bristol accommodation
In addition to price brackets, we also looked at how average value for money scores differed between domestic and international students (data 31st Jan - 30th June).
Whilst average value for money ratings appear to be holding steady for international students, domestic student scores have been declining lately.
We will explore the reasons for this (which can be found in analysing those reviews for topics and sentiment) in a future article, but our Insight & Analysis Tool helps to explain the specific context in Bristol:
- There are more students than beds (specifically halls)
- There are very few properties in the lower price category (indicated by shade of pins)
With supply lower than demand, we could take a guess that students are being forced into accommodation above their budget, driving satisfaction down.
As mentioned previously, private accommodation is, on average, £185 per week more expensive than university accommodation, so you might expect satisfaction to be lower in the private sector.
However, overall star ratings are usually lower for universities in Bristol, with an average of 3.69 vs. a private average of 4.26 (that’s for all time).
We are in the business of serving up helpful insights about markets and relaying the student voice on specific issues, so we will be doing a deeper dive into this market in the near future — stay tuned! You can also download our most recent affordability report for free.
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