Student Property Investment: UK Universities Want More International Students
The UK higher education sector relies heavily on the fees coming in through wealthy foreign students. These are students who pay their fees directly and bring essential cash liquidity to the sector. This presents a plethora of opportunities for those in the student property investment market.
As many will know, UK tuition fees have a cap at just over £9,000, seeing no rise in line with inflation. The £9,000 fees paid this year are worth the equivalent of £6,000 when compared to ten years ago.
It means that often universities are simply breaking even or making a loss on UK students. Universities then must make up that shortfall by enticing increasing numbers of international students. Ultimately because they aren’t constrained to UK fee caps.
This influx in international students in recent years has only boosted the UK student property market. Coupling with the fact that there is, in most university towns and cities, an acute shortage of student accommodation places, should investors be turning their attention to student property investment?
More investment required
The likelihood of UK student applications dropping is almost non-existent. In fact, more students than ever are looking to go on to further education. Mature student numbers are increasing thanks to many now requiring a university education for a well-paying career, especially if retraining.
With Universities requiring the higher tuition fees available from outside of the UK, this means, inevitably, that UK universities will need to attract more international students than ever by offering preferential terms to entice them here.
The UK higher education sector is one area where the country genuinely leads the world, so the expectation is that, with an election this year, whichever party wins will need to address the fact that universities require better funding.
But what about student accommodation? Exclusive data for Sky News (by Higher Education platform StudentCrowd and accountants PwC), shows “that while the student population has risen by 400,000 since 2019, the number of available student houses has dropped by 19,000 in the same period. That’s a loss of up to 95,000 bedrooms.”
The current amount of student accommodation solutions on offer isn’t keeping up with the ever-growing demand for student beds, resulting in a fertile environment for investors. For those looking to invest in this booming market, why not consider investing at Vision?
Student Property Investment Opportunity: Vision, Huddersfield
Adjacent to the University of Huddersfield, these are exactly the types of developments that are desperately needed. Huddersfield is an excellent example of the developing higher education sector outside of the established hubs. A trend away from places such as Manchester, Liverpool or London.
The development offers assured NET returns of 8% for 3 years. A really strong return on an in-demand asset here in the UK when other types of investments aren’t returning quite as much in a rocky economy.
If you are looking to invest in Vision or other UK opportunities for student property investment why not get in touch with us today?
