The government intends to have 50% of 18-30 year olds in higher education by the year 2010. With the buy-to-let market seemingly saturated, a steady and buoyant student buy-to-let market still offers the potential of good returns.
There are multiple reasons why the student buy-to-let market is a worthwhile investment. UCAS, the university applications agency, has seen a year-by-year increase in applications. The increased student numbers are fuelling a rush to build.
It is a well known fact that in today’s competitive market, universities are struggling financially, which is having knock-on effects. In addition to the increased numbers of students, massive student housing shortage and lack of investment in new housing initiatives offered by the universities mean that the benefits of private investment have never been better.
In some student cities throughout the UK, you can see the private developers building high-rise student apartment blocks as they have latched onto this investment opportunity. Just the other day, I was at Manchester Piccadilly station and apparently out of nowhere a modern, high-rise student apartment block had sprung up to obscure the usual view of the city!
University town = students = £££!!
Well, not necessarily. This book will provide an intensive look into letting out your property to students. By the end you will feel much more confident about:
- what type of student you want
- which area
- and what kind of property will best fit your situation.
The idea of this book is to assist you in your choices and to act as a guide to the market. There are roughly 200 institutions of higher education in the UK. Some of these are in cities where the number of students exceeds the number of local residents. You will find details of these in the book.
Institutions which for various reasons, such as not enough students or projected number of students, do not make the investment worthwhile or sustainable, have been discarded from the book.
Students typically reduce costs by sharing and minimising personal expenditure. Consequently, student houses can bring higher than average yields by maximising the available space. On a less rosy note, one must also take into consideration the responsibilities of renting to students, such as higher maintenance, furnishing costs, and increased wear and tear, when compared to renting to a professional couple, for example.
The location of the property will also be a deciding factor in your purchase. This will be not just on a national level, primarily chosen by you, but on a more local level which will be dictated by the campus location, access to local amenities, nearness to bus stops, etc.
All these issues will be addressed in detail throughout the book, showing you how to buy the perfect property and reap the benefits of student let property.