In our February webinar, the AFS team discussed the experiences students
had securing their current student accommodation and their anticipations
for the coming year.
Resilient students
Rhiannon Clark presented AFS’s most recent primary research on this topic.
The data confirms the existence of the well-known Autumn cycle in which
students search for accommodation, but also demonstrates a Spring/Summer
cycle present for postgraduate and first year students. The data
demonstrates that generally students are resilient towards the current
challenges in the student housing market. Hotspots of particular difficulty
in securing accommodation were highlighted, alongside much ‘easier’ cities.
A breakdown of the challenges students are currently facing was summarised.
Expectations in 2023
The research’s findings on students’ anticipations for their accommodation
next year were then discussed. This included students’ rent expectations,
time they plan to search for accommodation, anticipated accommodation type,
the cities in which students are anticipating the most difficulty, and what
these difficulties are expected to be.
Nick Emms concluded this segment. He emphasised that students are taking
the challenges in their stride, they have a relaxed mindset, the
polarisation in the market between cities and thus the need to consider
each city individually and advise students accordingly.
Student panel
Our student panel, Anna, Ellie, Dionysia and Eleanor shared their
experiences searching for accommodation. They discussed how the media
affected when they began searching for accommodation, what they would do
differently going forward, their preferences with bills-inclusive and
anything they would like to see done differently in the student housing
market.
The slides can be accessed
here
, and the full recording of the can be found here.
