July Occupancy Update

The positive momentum seen in StuRents’ June Occupancy Survey data has continued into July. Here, we provide an update on how the market is performing as a whole as we head into the busy late-summer period for PBSA bookings.

Source: StuRents Occupancy Survey

While booking velocity for 2025-26 is still lagging behind 2024-25 by 9.1 percentage points, the gap continues to narrow. Operators and investors will be hopeful of a surge in bookings in August and September to further close that gap, as we’ve seen in previous cycles.

Source: StuRents Occupancy Survey

Breaking down year-on-year performance by room type, both clusters and studios are heading in the right direction. Studios are on their third month of improved year-on-year performance, narrowing the gap from -15.0 points in April to -11.5 points in July. Clusters are on their second consecutive month of gains, closing their gap of -10.6 points in May to -7.6 points in July.

Source: StuRents Occupancy Survey

Looking at which months of the cycle have had the biggest gains in cluster occupancy, the chart above shows that July was another strong month, with a gain just slightly below that of last month’s cycle-best. If previous years are anything to go by, then a large volume in cluster bookings in August is likely, something that will help ensure the year-on-year spread narrows.

Source: StuRents Occupancy Survey

Looking at the same chart but for studios, with the general upward trend continuing for 2025-26. July was the best month for studio bookings so far, excluding the initial spike seen in November. Again, the sector will be hopeful this trend continues into the final months of the cycle.

For more information about our proprietary, highly granular data covering UK student accommodation contact the StuRents Research team today. Book a demo of our Data Portal to find out how you can have up-to-the-minute university housing insights at your fingertips, or get in touch with us about our Occupancy Survey.