The ongoing expansion of the purpose-built student accommodation sector has vastly transformed the state of student housing over the last 25 years. The days of bedsits and squats may have been over-stated in popular culture but was not that distant from reality. In today’s market, students have a range of purpose-built options to choose from that offer all the benefits of an institutionally managed product. The investment market for student accommodation has also matured. It has grown from its roots in the Business Expansion Scheme of the late 1980s to the listing of Student REITs on the London Stock Exchange.

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^{Source: Savills Research}

Growth has been met by an increase in investment activity. The value of assets and land traded during the first five months of 2015 was £4.2 billion and higher than any previous full year. We forecast total investment of £5.5 billion in 2015. The last couple of years have also seen an increase in investment from overseas. As the sector has matured, it has seen the bulk of investment activity shift from UK owner-operators to UK based private equity and institutions, and now to global institutional investors. Figure 4 highlights the trends in actual and potential global investment into the sector.

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^{Source: Savills Research}