Major European cities are proving attractive to student accommodation builders after a downturn in the UK market.
Rising costs, tighter regulation and a housing crunch have made conditions more challenging in the UK in recent years, after a long period of rapid growth in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).
The number of new student beds added in the UK has roughly halved since the Covid-19 pandemic, from about 30,000 a year to around 15,000, according to Martin Blakey, the former chief executive of the housing charity Unipol.
“[The decline was caused by] a massive increase in regulation following Grenfell, significant remedial work required on existing estates as a result of the Building Safety Act, and a substantial rise in construction costs,” he said, referring to the legislation introduced after the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy to improve building safety standards.
More UK students are also choosing to live at home instead of renting, he added, citing data from Ucas showing a 2-3 per cent rise year-on-year over the past four years.
