Top accommodation decision-making factors for students

When it comes down to making the decision on where you will be living at university, a lot of factors have to be considered. Our official Student Survey asked 527 students what the key points were that helped them make the move, here’s what they said:

Most attractive incentives

Some of the most attractive incentives were the guarantee of cash back (44%), free summer storage (20%) and vouchers (12%).

The first question that a lot of prospective students ask accommodation providers or their universities is usually involved with parking. With some universities not allowing students to take their car at all, free parking is a very attractive incentive, and 22% rated it as important to them.

Trust factors

Students said that viewing a property in person helped them feel most comfortable about making their decision, with 43.1% of respondents rating this factor a 10/10 on levels of importance.

However, personal recommendations weren’t far behind with a rating of 7.6/10 and online reviews were close after at 7.5/10.

Key factors when choosing accommodation:

1. Price

2. Bills included

3. Distance to uni

4. Safety and security

5. Well maintained and managed property

6. Housemates

7. Ensuite bathroom

8. Distance to amenities

9. Student-friendly location

10. On-site support

Location factor ranking

64% of students rank proximity to uni as the most important factor as this would inevitably save students money on transport back and forth lectures. Ranking second was transport, due to the importance of students being able to catch buses or trains back home, into town, to lectures or on nights out etc.

Closeness to amenities is also very important to students so that they can get shopping done, socialise or experience uni nightlife. Being close to a city or town centre helps with this, as does a high concentration of students (or simply living in a student area.)