Student landlords in one city have seen rent prices rocket by more than
20%, according to one lettings agency.
Walton Robinson says it has boosted their landlord’s income for 2022/23 by
more than it did last year.
Kyle Dickson, the firm’s lettings manager, said: “Properties for the 2021
to 2022 academic year were in extremely high demand and we are already
seeing a similar trend rolling into the 2022 to 2023 season.
“When we started marketing properties for 2022/23, we’d already seen a 70%
increase on student enquiries, compared with the last academic year.”
Part of the rent rise is down to increasing demand for property from a
larger number of students attending university in Newcastle and this is
also helping to push property prices up, especially for homes of multiple
occupancy.
Rent rises are higher on a managed student property
The Newcastle-based student lettings and property management company point
out that the rent rises they have seen are higher on a managed student
property.
They say that is down to the agency having a say on the property’s
condition and arranging refurbishment work.
To highlight the student rent rise, Kyle points to a property that is
managed by them in Heaton that has seen a rent rise of 21% – and a nearby
property has seen its rent increase by 20%.
But these student properties are not alone – the agency says that in other
parts of Newcastle, student rents are enjoying big price rises.
And, they say, these rent prices will continue growing.
Price rises aren’t putting off potential student tenants
It appears that the price rises aren’t putting off potential student
tenants since the firm says it has let 76% more properties at this point
than it did last year.
The agency lists their student properties in mid-October and this year,
they have seen a record number of enquiries being received.
Along with a massive increase in student housing demand, the firm manage to
let more properties in the first week than they had done in each of the
previous four years with average rent rises of nearly 5%.
‘A key factor to a landlord achieving a higher rental income’
Amy Gibson, the agency’s general manager, said: “A key factor to a landlord
achieving a higher rental income is ensuring that properties are
consistently kept to a high standard.
“We work very closely with landlords to ensure that this is happening and
can offer a number of services assisting with the process from start to
finish.”
She also says that other landlords could see their rents increase if they
carried out improvements – especially since student housing is in short
supply.
Simon Thompson, the managing director of Accommodation for Students, said:
“I would suspect that more cities with large student populations will be
seeing rent rises and, I’m sure, we will hear more about those in the weeks
and months to come.
“However, the interesting issue is what we always say – and that is quality
student properties managed by responsible landlords will always be
successful and that appears to be the case in Newcastle.”
Lack of student hall demand blamed on Portsmouth University
Meanwhile, one student halls owner has been left with empty rooms and is
blaming Portsmouth University for encouraging online learning.
That is despite Covid restrictions being lifted on university students and
now Collegiate has submitted a planning application for its Crown Place
halls to turn 115 rooms into housing.
The halls provider says that the problem is down to a lack of overseas
students attending the university.
However, a spokesman for the University of Portsmouth denied the claim and
said their students had not been advised to study online.
The move by Collegiate would affect 20% of the accommodation space in the
halls, and turning student rooms into housing will, it says, help ‘boost
income’ whilst the sector recovers from the pandemic lockdown.
International students who were studying online
In a statement, the owners say that the University of Portsmouth advised
its international students who were studying online during the pandemic
lockdown to continue doing so.
They added: “This advice flies in the face of other universities which was
for students to come back to their campus.”
The University spokesman pointed out that they had not been consulted by
the Crown Place developers at any point during its planning, development or
construction.
He added that their online learning advice was for students who could not
travel to the UK during the pandemic lockdown, to follow government
guidelines – and the University now places a high value on the face-to-face
teaching of all its students.
