Year: 2014

Empiric Student Properties PLC said that it has acquired its first three student accommodation assets, for around GBP31 million, since last month’s initial public offering.

The company acquired College Green in Bristol for GBP10.0 million, Picturehouse Apartments in Exeter for GBP11.4 million, and Summit House in Cardiff for GBP9.6 million.

It expects to complete the acquisition of a further property, Edge Apartments in Birmingham, for GBP8.9 million by mid-August …

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The HC Mansion UK Student Accommodation Income & Growth fund has suspended redemptions after becoming the latest vehicle in the sector to suffer liquidity problems.

The £45m UK-domiciled fund shares its name and property management company with the £282 million Guernsey-based Mansion Student Accommodation, which also suspended redemptions last October. But its corporate director, Host Capital, said the funds were entirely separate.  Christopher Finch, manager of the fund at Host Capital, blamed the suspension on a higher than expected level of redemption requests from investors. “As a regulated manager we took the prudent step to manage the fund liquidity appropriately and differed redemptions. It will be a few months before we put a liquidity facility into the fund and resume normal trading.”

The open-ended fund, which invests in purpose built UK student acommodation, was launched 18 months ago. It has a five-year investment horizon. Another vehicle, the Brandeaux Student Accommodation Fund, suspended redemptions in 2013, also blaming market liquidity problems …

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The Brandeaux Student Accommodation fund has backtracked on plans to float its portfolio.

The fund had said at the start of June that it would float its £1.1 billion portfolio in a bid to meet investors’ demand for redemptions.

It planned to float its portfolio of student accommodation by listing a subsidiary company Liberty Living, but last week announced that it would no longer press ahead with the initial public offering (IPO) …

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Plans for more than 550 new student flats on three city centre sites have been put forward.

The proposals could see two offices near Maid Marian Way converted into apartments – including the old E.on headquarters at Newland House, Mount Street.

And Talbot House, which used to home Experian, could soon become home to 200 apartments for students if plans are given the green light …

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A student housing cooperative in Sheffield has been backed by MP Meg Munn.

The Sheffield Heeley MP met with the two University of Sheffield graduates who set up Sheffield’s Student Housing Co-op.
She talked to Jamie Risner, who set up the cooperative with Rosie Evered, to discuss problems students often face when renting accommodation in the city.

Mrs Munn said she now plans to introduce SSHC to Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister Emma Reynolds to show how the party can support not-for-profit student housing co-ops …

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A popular city centre hotel and restaurant are facing an uncertain future, after plans emerged to convert the premises into more student accommodation.

A planning application has been filed to Durham County Council which would see the Kingslodge Hotel, on Waddington Street, Durham – which is also home to Finbarr’s restaurant – extended and converted into rooms for 57 students.

Amid anger over more and more of the city being turned over to student accommodation, the scheme has already drawn objections from Crossgate Community Partnership (CCP) and the City of Durham Trust, among others …

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A vast DIY store will be demolished to make way for a £38 million student flats complex in the Southside.

Detailed designs for the 579-bed accommodation at the Homebase site on St Leonard’s Street have been unveiled this week. The proposals include plans for a retail unit or health centre within the building, plus a courtyard area.

Developer Unite Students’ initial plans for the complex, which emerged earlier this year, fuelled long-running concerns about an over-saturation of students in the Southside area. But Unite’s regional design and planning director Jagdeep Bhogal – who was in the Capital as part of a two-day public exhibition – insisted that the project would reduce the pressure on private rented accomodation in the area …

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The student property market has shifted significantly in recent years with students turning away from houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) towards purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).This has resulted in investors having an increased appetite to invest in this sector, attracted by the high rental yields on offer.

The industry has been heralded as being one of the strongest property markets but there has been little concrete evidence about the popularity of PBSA to date since many of the developments have been under-construction. However, in a clear demonstration of where the sector is heading, leading student property provider Vita Student has announced that all 156 studio apartments available at its Portland House residence in Exeter have been reserved three months ahead of the 2014/2015 academic year …

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The University of Sussex will have to go back to the drawing board in its bid to increase its student intake.

Brighton and Hove city councillors have voted against their £500 million plans for more student housing and academic buildings at the campus in Falmer.

The plans would have seen room for 1,408 more students on the East Slope and 1,122 on the West Slope, contributing to an expected 4,600 increase in students by 2018 …

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It’s been nothing more than a largely empty construction site for ages.

The area around Cardiff’s Tyndall Street could be transformed if these ideas come to fruition.

A bridge linking the area to the city centre and new office block have already been built there …

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