Green light for 600-bed Coventry student flats
Completion of the Crosslane scheme is expected in time for the 2019/2020 academic year …
2,000 student flats could stand empty all over Plymouth
A leading Plymouth businessman is predicting up to 2,000 student flats could be empty when the new academic year starts in September – because the wrong sort of accommodation is being built.
Henry Hutchins, chief executive of Clever Student Lets, said students want shared facilities and companionship, not small self-contained bedrooms.
With several large-scale student flat towers being built in Plymouth, Mr Hutchins said he expects operators will struggle to fill rooms …
Quill site changes hands; new owner reverts to student housing
The as-yet-unbuilt Quill development near London Bridge Station has been acquired by Greystar who plan to develop the site as student accommodation.
The Quill scheme was first proposed back in 2009 and won planning consent in 2011.
Architects SPPARC claimed that the Quill’s design is an allusion to Southwark’s literary heritage and the borough’s links to Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens and Keats …
Watkin Jones rises as student housing demand “remains strong”
Shares in Watkin Jones plc rose this morning after the property developer hailed the continuing “strong” demand for student accommodation.
The group said the first six months of its financial year have been “successful” and trading had been in line with expectations with a number of properties sold.
In the first half, Watkin Jones sold five student accommodation developments in Bournemouth, Ipswich, Belfast, Cardiff and London for £192m …
Chester council leader says student scheme ‘doesn’t support a balanced community’
Cheshire West and Chester Council leader Samantha Dixon is at loggerheads with her own planning department over another student housing scheme in Newtown .
Jansons Property is seeking consent at the April 4th planning committee for an eight-storey 376-bed complex on the site of the railway station car park next to Hoole bridge …
Student housing JV targets 10,000 beds in five years
Mayfair-based residential developer Southern Grove has teamed up with Bahraini investor Tadhamon Capital to launch a new student accommodation joint venture called Future Generation …
Partner wanted for £325m student accommodation pipeline
Crosslane Property Group (CPG) is hunting for a partner to put up £325m to forward-fund its entire student accommodation pipeline …
Henley buys student portfolio from CPPIB’s Liberty Living
UK private equity real estate investor Henley has bought three student housing assets from Liberty Living.
The firm said it paid £50m (€57.8m) for the portfolio from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board-owned sector specialist.
The combined properties, in Preston, Sheffield and Stoke, include 1,519 student rooms …
Mapletree closes US$1.3 billion private trust for student dorms
Mapletree Investments has closed a private trust to hold US$1.3 billion in student-accommodation assets in the UK and the US – a move that makes this not only the first such product in Singapore, but also the first of a series of private trusts for the group.
The Temasek unit is also aiming to launch Singapore’s first initial public offering (IPO) of student-housing assets when the portfolio grows to S$4-5 billion.
For a start, its private trust for the asset class – Mapletree Global Student Accommodation Private Trust (MGSA P-Trust) – will hold an 8,363-bed US portfolio of 10 assets, and a 5,910-bed UK portfolio of 25 assets …
Funds invest in student housing as prospects brighten
Higher enrollment in tertiary education has led to universities seeking private sector funding for residential facilities to house the next generation of students.
JLL estimates that students in higher education will increase from 165 million in 2011 to 263 million by 2025. The increasing enrollment comes from the growing number of parents from China and India who prefer to send their children to prestigious overseas institutions.
JLL reveals that in the past 18 months, a record €14.4 billion (US$15.5 billion) in new capital has been invested in the student housing sector as universities seek to partner with institutional investors to help transform facilities to cater to rising student intake. At the time of writing, GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, announced that its joint venture with Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and The Scion Group had acquired three U.S. student housing portfolio for about $1.6 billion …