StuRents' Quarterly Webinar: Q&A Highlights in April 2025

StuRents’ Quarterly Webinar: Q&A Highlights in April 2025

The student rental market continues to evolve due to ongoing regulatory shifts, fluctuations in supply and demand, and economic and political influences at both national and global levels. In our latest quarterly webinar, we examined these trends from both a nationwide and city-specific perspective.

Explore our Q&A highlights below for a closer look at the forces shaping the student rental sector’s future.

Q: Some cities, such as Leicester, have significant drops in student acceptances (UCAS EOC data). Why was there such a significant drop in these locations when other cities were much less affected?

There will be many influencing factors that contribute to the fluctuations of student numbers by city, including changes to university rankings and the student body demographics. For example in Leicester, student numbers have been growing from countries such as India and Nigeria, with both of them appearing in the top 5 countries for growth, according to HESA data up to the 2022-2023 academic year. However, more recent data from UCAS has shown that Indian student numbers are flatlining, with a huge drop in Nigerian students due to their local economy and the weakening of the Nigerian Naira.

Q: Could clusters be slower to let than studios due to there generally being a higher quantity of them in the market, rather than their popularity vs studios?

It’s possible that the number of studios and clusters on the market could explain some of this difference, and as with much of the data and trends, this will vary widely between markets. Looking at listing view data from StuRents.com (that is, property listings that someone has clicked on) for the October 2023 to September 2024 period, 74% of domestic students were searching for 3+ bed clusters - thus there is still a large demand for clusters versus studios or 1-beds. However, a further consideration is that a significant proportion of this domestic demand is viewing HMO (79.1%) properties rather than PBSA.

Chart 1: Listing Views for HMO and PBSA, October 2023 to September 2024

Source: StuRents

For Asian students, the views are skewed more towards studios and 1-beds, however, 42% of views are for 3+ beds. Therefore, it’s unlikely that quantities of studios vs clusters alone account for the significant variations in occupancy, at least at a national level.

Chart 2: Listing Views for Studio & 1-bed and 3+ bed Properties, October 2023 to September 2024

Asia region defined as China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Korea

Source: StuRents

Q: Is the bed size shift to larger rooms, from studios, related to affordability issues in the UK?

This trend is one we see each year and relates, in this case, to differences in seasonality in student accommodation searches between demographics. During the October to December period each year, a significant proportion of domestic students will be house-hunting. As domestic students are typically doing so in groups, 3+ beds will form the majority of searches for this period. Later in the academic year, this switches to studios and 1-beds, as international students start looking for accommodation in larger numbers.

Q: At what date should we begin to see increased international enquiry levels in the UK?

This will largely depend on the specific domicile make-up of tenants in the local market, particularly the international and domestic split, who will be searching for and enquiring about properties at different times of the year. As with searches, enquiries see an increase in the October to November period from domestic students, with international students driving another peak from July to September.

Data provided from the StuRents occupancy survey is also a powerful tool to help track leasing in different markets each month, providing an extra dimension to the existing data on views and enquiries.

Q: Are developers focused on amenity-based developments too much, which drives up the rent cost? The data would suggest students are looking for more affordable accommodation rather than places with gyms, cinemas etc.

This is a consideration, although removing certain amenities may not materially impact the £pppw rent, with other factors such as land costs, debt costs and construction costs all contributing to the high cost of rent. 

While twin rooms are also included in some UK schemes - a common and popular choice of university accommodation in countries such as the USA - they don’t appear to be gaining traction with investors, even though they could provide a more affordable end product

Q: Why is studio velocity so much faster at the start of the year compared to the searches, which skews more towards more rooms?

Total demand will be skewed by domestic students who still make up the majority of the demand pool, and these students typically search in groups. Studio velocity, specifically for PBSA studios, will not necessarily reflect this trend as private PBSA is only a fraction of the total supply. Additionally, re-bookers play a role in PBSA, contributing to early lettings of studios.

The student rental market is shifting due to demographic, economic, political, and regulatory changes. Adapting to these trends will be key to seizing new opportunities in student housing.

For more information about our proprietary, highly granular data covering UK student accommodation 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.