Continued Success in Student Lettings
Letting success in the student market continues to be high: 87% of the respondents to the survey rented out all of their properties, with 97.3% who let exclusively to students claiming to have let their entire portfolio.
Consistent with the findings in our previous surveys, about two thirds of the respondents still prefer renting to students than to non-students and about 80% believe that student make good tenants overall.
More investment and further rent increases planned
Three times as many of the respondents plan to increase the size of their property portfolio than decrease it. 25.5% of landlords were planning to invest in new properties for the forthcoming letting year, compared to 8.2% that intended to reduce their portfolio.
85% of respondents increased rents for at least one of the properties which they are letting to students, with increases varying between 1% and 10% and being driven by letting success.
Pros and cons
As previously identified, respondents still have positive feelings about renting out to students and 60% of them would recommend that landlords let their properties to students. The main benefits remain the higher rental yields, fixed tenancy lengths and the provision of a guarantor which make up for the time consuming process of letting to students and costs of maintaining a HMO.
Competition from Private Developments
There were mixed views from landlords and agents on the level of competition from private developments. Around half felt that private halls did not offer a threat to ‘traditional’ student digs and a similar proportion strongly believing that there remained a vibrant market for the traditional landlord. Around 40% of those that participated in the survey felt that students were starting to opt for purpose built developments over shared housing.
About the survey
Accommodation For Students distribute a bi-annual survey to landlords and agents and the full report can be found here http://bit.ly/1OkIKAU
