Unite Students has announced robust growth and nearly full student accommodation blocks due to record demand from students and ongoing limited supply.
The company informed markets this morning that like-for-like rental growth stood at 8.2 per cent, with occupancy reaching 97.5 per cent for the 2024/25 academic year, as reported by .
Maintaining its guidance, Unite anticipates rental growth to be between 4-5 per cent for the 2025/2026 academic year.
"The outlook for the business is positive with strong student demand at a time of limited new supply and ongoing investment into our portfolio and platform," stated Joe Lister, Chief Executive Officer of Unite Students.
"We have made good progress with the delivery of our record development pipeline and deploying the proceeds of our recent capital raise. These projects will deliver much needed new student homes in some of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's strongest university cities and help to ease wider housing shortages."
The firm confirmed that its development pipeline is "fully funded" and will result in an additional 4,600 beds between 2025 and 2028, costing a total of £913m.
'Resilient' demand from international students
Earlier this year, the º£½ÇÊÓƵ abolished visas for family members of students, a move expected to pose challenges for underfunded British universities that depend on higher international fees to cover expenses.
Unite has reported that international demand remains "resilient" despite visa policy changes, with UCAS acceptances for international undergraduates staying broadly consistent year on year.
However, the organisation noted a downturn in postgraduate international demand, which has been "negatively impacted".
Unite also mentioned, "We expect the visa change to most significantly impact lower-tariff institutions, particularly those with a high dependence on students from Nigeria and India".
Additionally, Unite observed that domestic student demand has returned to normal following the "exceptional sales cycle" of 2023/2024, highlighting a three per cent increase in undergraduate acceptances among º£½ÇÊÓƵ 18 year olds compared to the previous year.
