In a real mismatch between supply and demand, there are now 3.1 students for every student bed available in the UK, leaving a shortfall of almost 1.5m in the nation’s stocks of purpose-built student accommodation, new research has revealed.
The research estimates that there are now 2,180,419 full-time university students across the UK, which amounts to 8 per cent more than there were prior to the pandemic of 2019-20. While at the same time, there are just 697,734 student beds available to them.
Furthermore, the supply of student rentals is not keeping up with the increasing demand with available student lets growing by just 6 per cent over the same period.
The shortfall seems sure to roll over to the 2023-24 academic year with reports of limited supply already causing problems for those booking their accommodation ready for next year.
In fact, the analysis by Stripe Property Group shows that almost a fifth of student-specific rental properties available to rent in the current market have already been snapped up across 15 of the UK’s major university towns.
Student demand was found to be at its highest in Brighton, where almost half (48%) of all student rentals available to student tenants have already been taken.
In London, 40 per cent of student properties are already let, while in Glasgow 32 per cent of available properties were reserved for next year, in Bristol the figure was 29 per cent and 28 per cent in Edinburgh.
Managing Director of Stripe Property Group, James Forrester, commented: “Unfortunately, for every one student that does find a place to live, there are now more than two who won’t and this lack of affordable, purpose-built living can cause an immense amount of stress and anxiety at a time when they should be focussing solely on their studies.
As it stands, the private rental sector is left to pick up the slack but this often means paying way above the odds to rent a home that is quite often not fit for purpose.”
*Estimated number of student beds available sourced from Cushman Wakefield
*Estimated number of full-time university students sourced from HESA
