Year: 2012

UK student housing transaction volumes are forecast to reach as high as £1.5bn this year, according to CBRE forecasts, eclipsing last year’s £1.15bn, in a market favoured by both income-seeking real estate investors and senior debt lenders.

CBRE research shows around £246m worth of student accommodation deals closed in the first quarter of this year, with a number of deals expected to close later this year, including Blackstone’s sale of Nido Student Living for around £400m to Round Hill Capital.

The popularity of the segment is driven by a number of property dynamics, unique to student accommodation.
Investors and lenders alike are attracted to the long leases and the demand-supply dynamic, which is yet to be diminished by rising student fees …

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Student accommodation provider Unite has posted a 1.8% rise in the estimated net asset value (NAV) of its UK Student Accommodation Fund during the first quarter of 2012.

The NAV as at 31 March 2012 was £0.872 per unit. That’s up from £0.857 per unit at 31 December 2011.

The fund’s property portfolio now comprises 21,717 beds in 63 properties across 20 UK markets, and was independently valued at £1.3 billion …

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The University of Northampton has been given the go-ahead for plans to extend its student accommodation.

Northampton Council’s planning committee has granted planning permission for a £25m, 464-room hall of residence on the site of the St John’s car park in Northampton.

The university says the new hall of residence in the centre of town is vital to secure its future, as it needs to continue to attract students to study in the town …

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A derelict Victorian church which has attracted squatters and illegal ravers is set to be transformed into student accommodation, if plans are agreed by Sheffield Council next week.

Objections to the scheme, which would create 98 student beds within the Grade II-listed Crookes Valley Methodist Church, have come from neighbours, former council leader Paul Scriven and the local Green Party.

Planning permission was granted in 2006 to convert the run-down church in Crookesmoor Road into 18 flats with 89 beds, and three years later a second set of plans were approved which would have seen a development of student flats with 63 beds …

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Universities are spending millions on new buildings as they compete to attract students – including campus hotels, an overseas student village and better bedrooms, says a survey.

Building firm Wates says 79% of them have construction plans costing more than £5m scheduled for next year.

Improved facilities for overseas and postgraduate students are planned by two-thirds of universities, it reports …

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A massive seven-storey development that would bring another influx of students to Finsbury Park is in doubt.
he 475-bed scheme in Morris Place has been thrown into question after the government performed a U-turn on its decision to allow the plan.

Lawyers from the Treasury Solicitor’s Department admitted a ruling by a government planning inspector, which overturned Islington Council’s original rejection of the proposal, was unsound.

The council was set to fight its corner at the High Court in May but will now not be challenged …

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More than 600 flats for students could be built on University of Reading land in Earley if plans are given the green light tonight.

The university proposes demolishing existing accommodation at Bridges Hall in Whiteknights Road and replacing it with four blocks of flats and 16 townhouses.

Wokingham Borough Council has earmarked the plan for approval, as it covers a similar site to old halls of residents that are to be demolished under the proposal …

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A stunning new vision has been released showing how Hull’s former fish dock could be transformed.

The undeveloped eastern end of St Andrew’s Dock has remained derelict since closing in 1975 It was once home to the world’s largest deep-water fishing fleet.

Now a planning application proposing a radical facelift for the area has been submitted by Lord Line Campus Ltd, a subsidiary of North Ferriby-based developers Manor Property Group …

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A half-finished care home development is set to be turned into student flats.

Developer Nikesh Popat has applied to Leicester City Council to turn 21 first, second and third floor flats on the corner of Western Road and Briton Street, in the city’s West End, into 52 student flats.

Leicester City Council officers have recommended planning committee members approve the development at a meeting …

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Plans for the latest phase of Cambridge’s station area redevelopment have been recommended for approval.

The application for 232 student rooms in two five-storey blocks – one fronting Hills Road, next to the Earl of Derby pub, and another between the guided busway and the railway line – will go before city council planners tomorrow.

An objection has been submitted by conservation charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future, saying the properties would lack natural ventilation, and ground floor flats would have little privacy …

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