Student Accommodation: Availability and Rental Growth Trends July 2023

The average rent outside London exceeds the maximum maintenance loan for the second year running so what can be done to better balance supply and demand?

PwC and StudentCrowd have collaborated to produce this report that explores trends in the student accommodation booking cycle and rent increases for privately-owned Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) across the UK, including particular university cities. The report addresses the impact of availability and rent increases on both students and universities. It also covers opportunities to address these prevailing market challenges. PwC and Universities UK (UUK) have actively supported us in crafting our full report, and we are excited to share it.

Download Report PDF

The report covers the following:

★ An overview of the PBSA market in the UK

★ The drivers impacting demand and supply for PBSA

★ Booking behaviour and availability for the 2023/24 academic year

★ Rental increases between January 2022 and July 2023

★ The impact of availability and rent increases on both students and universities

★ Opportunities to address the prevailing market challenges

Accommodation is a crucial part of the university experience for many students, and universities recognise the potential effect that housing can have on their education and wellbeing. It is crucial that sector bodies work together on this. This data, from PwC and StudentCrowd, will provide helpful tools and evidence for the sector to work together to address problem areas in accommodation, and will further provide focus and clarity on this issue for universities, local governments, and anyone else involved in the housing of student populations.

Quote from Universities UK

Of the 2.27 million students (full-time) in the UK around 1.42 million require accommodation. Currently an estimated 30% of the UK’s total full-time student numbers are living in PBSA developments. However, the demand for student accommodation is outstripping supply in the UK, as there are only 678,000 PBSA beds available, meeting less than half (48%) of the demand. This increased demand may offer an opportunity for future PBSA investment and private developers, but it also presents a challenge for higher education institutions and young people.

Failure to address this challenge is likely to have adverse effects on the affordability of UK student housing, the student experience, university reputation, and the future of students enrolling at university.

As the cost of living rises for students, and maintenance loan levels fail to keep up, the expense of accommodation will become a barrier to higher education (HE) participation for some individuals. This will unfairly affect under-represented groups of students.