Get your free copy
Student Accommodation: Availability and Rental Growth Trends - December Edition
StudentCrowd and PwC have pooled their expertise, creating a report that dives into one of the most important questions in HE at the moment: the challenges surrounding student accommodation.
And while each university, student and accommodation operator faces unique circumstances, we've discovered some common themes and goals that can serve as a foundation for continued success.
So for valuable insights and actionable strategies, download our comprehensive report today.
About the Report
Findings and Predictions
Following on from analysis in July's report, we refreshed the data for December 2023, publishing an Addendum confirming many of the predictions from July were realised, with notable exceptions.
- Student numbers have grown by more than 15% since 2019 but, during the same timeframe, the number of HMO spaces has dropped by up to 95,000 beds.
- Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) has sought to fill this gap, with new buildings having been added in the last 12-months but this has only replaced 10-20% of the lost beds.
- Long lead-times, rising costs of borrowing, rising costs of construction and labour costs and shortage as well as regulation have made it challenging to build affordable accommodation.
- In the last 12-months, there had been a 6-10% rental increase nationally, however this information is much more meaningful at a local level.
- There are early signs that this rent increase is slowing as we come into the new academic cycle.
- The timing of when tenancies were released to the market differed significantly in some cities across the 23/24 cycle compared to previous cycles.
- A number of operators experienced late-season fluctuations in occupancy levels which may have been caused by late cancellations and subsequent re-sale.
Missed the last report?
July’s report has now been updated to close of cycle.
