Investment into student housing construction shrinks in London

Investment into building new student digs in London has shrunk, leaving some future freshers without accommodation, new research revealed on Thursday as A-level results were published.

Property agent Knight Frank calculated just 4500 bedrooms specifically for students are under construction this year in the capital. That’s down from around 9000 in 2018.

A lack of investment into the sector comes despite huge demand owing to a number of top universities being based here.

Full time students across London’s 40 higher education institutions outnumber purpose built bed spaces by 3.6 to 1.

Matthew Bowen, head of student property research at Knight Frank said: “The combination of high land values, competition from conventional new-build housing for sites and stringent planning policy has significantly reduced new schemes in London.”

James Hanmer, head of UK student housing investment at Savills, warned if planning application processes get any tougher, “the majority of developers will look to build elsewhere with only specialists with good borough and university relationships remaining”.