Loan Secured for Lincoln Student Accommodation
27th Jan 2023
StuRents Quarterly Reports are now available to order
Every quarter, StuRents produces quarterly reports for 46 university cities and towns across the UK. With over 750,000 beds listed on our platform each year, we extract millions of data points and analyse these in-depth to develop insights and understand trends for each university city. This makes our data unique, extensive, and hyper-relevant on a city-by-city basis.
StuRents quarterly reports analyse student accommodation search behaviour and property listings data to create a comprehensive market overview per city that analyses market demand, market supply, and the supply pipeline.
We analyse:
- User search behaviour covering unit mix demand, seasonality, and affordability
- Planning application activity - number of beds submitted or approved over time
- Estimated growth in PBSA (using the planning data)
- Updates to the supply pipeline during the last quarter, including details on schemes submitted or approved.
We also look at a number of unique aspects of the student accommodation sector in each quarter. In the Q4 reports, we analyse the average pricing of HMOs and PBSA, average PBSA residence size, and PBSA operator share.
Unit Mix Demand
During Q4-2022 (Jul-Sep), demand became skewed more heavily towards smaller sizes, with 1-bed flats and studios equating to 45.3% of searches performed on the platform. This represents an increase compared to the figure of 32.4%. This is entirely expected, with international students typically searching later in the lettings cycle and usually favouring these smaller sizes.
With the Q1-2023 season now underway, we expect to see a reversal of this trend, as domestic students begin house-hunting.
Planning Activity
In the first nine months of 2022, planning applications totalling more than 19k beds were put forward, with a similar number granted planning permission. Whilst thousands of beds have been submitted, activity remains low by historical standards. For example, in the same period of 2018, more than 42k beds were submitted and 35k approved.
Location, Location, Location
We recently released our annual report on the student accommodation sector in the UK (click here to watch the replay). Among many trends and insights highlighted in this year's report was the perennial truth that national trends don't necessarily reflect local experiences.
What's more, many investment advisors and industry pundits focus heavily on the PBSA side of the student accommodation sector and completely overlook the key role played by HMO in this space. The long-term impact of this oversight can be staggering. Skewed data showing a lack of PBSA can trigger over-investment in a city that's already oversubscribed for student accommodation with a healthy HMO supply.
Investors risk losing money when they invest in an area without first reviewing the full picture. This is what makes StuRents' quarterly reports the critical insights they are.
How to get your quarterly report
To access quarterly reports for the areas you're interested in, contact the StuRents Research team today. Or book a demo of our Data Portal to find out how you can have up-to-the-minute university housing insights at your fingertips.
