Student Housing Making A Storm With Investors

Student housing is attracting more attention than it has for many years, as buy to let and rental yields once again overtake capital gains in the desires of property investors and property investors to be.
In a group discussion on the Property Tribes forum, a specialist in the field of buy to let said student housing is the best medium-long term bet.

“It’s a big market though and from an investment perspective although I personally believe it’s the best medium to long term play there is I would advise considerable caution both outside London and outside the investors locality – as Tim mentioned above the bandwagon moved North a few years ago and they didn’t always build the right stock in the right places,” said Martin Skinner of Inspired Assets.

Professional investor Nick Dykes said:

“I have 4 student houses. They take more management time than my ordinary lets but then they give me a better return. I have 16 student tenants and they are all very good tenants.”

David Cox, director of UK based international property investment consultancy Property Frontiers, which has just taken on board some student rooms for sale in Liverpool, said:

“Student property investment is gaining in popularity at the moment because it is a more stable option than traditional buy to let. Students let a property, and then they stay in that property for the year, then that group tends to move out into shared housing and you get a new tenant from the new intake. Alternatively the original tenant will sometimes stay for the entire length of his studies, either way voids are far easier to minimise in well chosen student investments.”

Property Frontiers are now offering student rooms for sale, which are not only within the catchment area, but within a short walk of two Liverpool universities. According to reports, demand for student accommodation in Liverpool has been growing by 12% per year for the last 2 years.

The rooms are a fully managed hands-free investment, which have achieved 100% occupancy (51 weeks per year) every year since they were refurbished 12 years ago. The Beacon House studio rooms are priced at just £38,000 and the yield is 10.1% per annum. There is a current wave of desire for everyone in property to diversify their portfolio as much as possible, on the face of it student housing could well be one of the best ways to do so.