Member Article

Empiric continues to reap the benefits as demand for student housing outstrips supply

The continued buoyancy of the UK’s student housing market may be bad news for students looking to scrimp on their digs, but for property investors such as London-based Empiric Student Property things could not be rosier.

According to the property firm’s trading update this morning, Empiric has saw the value of its portfolio, which encompasses 8,762 beds across some of the UK’s biggest university towns, rise by over £60m in the last year and currently stands at £786.7m.

The student accommodation-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) has continued to enjoy steady gains as student housing continues to prove itself as one of the UK’s steadiest asset classes.

According to ESP, the firm is targeting an annual rental increase of around 2.8% for this academic year and hopes to have 81 assets, encompassing 7,579, operational by the end of 2017/18.

In its update the property investor said that demand continued to outstrip supply in the student housing market, which is no doubt music to the ears of their shareholders and other investors in the space.

Paul Hadaway, Chief Executive of Empiric Student Property plc, commented: “The first half of the current financial year has been one of consolidation, during which time we have focussed on embedding the significant number of acquisitions and developments undertaken during the previous financial period.”

It is not such good news for students of course with a National Union of Students (NUS) poll in Autumn 2016 suggesting that the average cost of student housing had gone up by a quarter in the last seven years.

The average weekly rental for purpose built student accommodation rising from £120 to £147 between 2009-10 and 2015-16 according to a study of NUS figures by the Guardian, as booming demand and increasingly glitzy student developments has bloated prices.