Student buy-to-let
Despite tuition fees and other financial problems facing school-leavers, student numbers are growing. And as they (and their parents) know, accommodation is extremely expensive.
This has sparked a rush of money into the sector, along with the usual salesmen and marketing patter promising big returns. If you haven’t yet had a flyer or email urging you to invest between £35,000 and £60,000 in a student bedsit, and boasting profits of anything up to 12 per cent a year, you can expect to receive one soon. A lot of this should be taken with a pinch of salt, but student accommodation is regarded by professional investors as a serious and lucrative asset class. Wealthy individuals increasingly own student flats as part of their portfolio, as do big institutions, including insurers Aviva and Legal & General …