1 million university applicants across the UK are expected by 2030

A recent article published by Savills analysed how the UK’s Purpose-Built Student Accommodation or PBSA sector strengthens over time. According to UCAS data, the number of the first year cohort for 2022/23 reached 618,000 and 622,000 for 2023/24.

Even though Brexit is responsible for the fall in EU students, there was significant growth in the number of students from India and China.

What does this mean for the PBSA sector?

Well, “(i)nternational students are 60% more likely to live in student accommodations than domestic students, with those from India more than twice as likely.” says James Hammer, head of UK PBSA Investment and Co-living, in the Operational Capital Markets division at Savills.

The need for student accommodation has never been greater, but there are significant shortages of stock in some markets. This is due to regulatory and tax changes which led to a decrease in the number of buy-to-let mortgage redemptions.

According to Savills analysis of data from Glenigan there’s planned construction of only 144,00 beds nationally, with only 25% of those under construction.

Cities with substantial growth in their student population

Furthermore, Savills has identified strong development opportunities in certain cities around the UK which see substantial growth in their student populations:

• Bath

• Birmingham

• Brighton

• Edinburgh

• London

• Manchester

• Oxford

• St Andrews

• Canterbury

• Durham

• Glasgow

Read the full article from Savills here.