London’s purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) shortage is spilling students into the private rental market, and it’s pricing out local people.
Building safety regulators are setting back student housing developments by more than 12 months. If the government’s new Building Safety Regulator (BSR) unit doesn’t prioritise these projects, students will saturate the rental market and push affordability further out of reach.
By Haman Manak, Procurement Director, Stanmore Design House
One million students are projected to move to London over the next five years, but there’s nowhere near enough purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) to meet that demand. The numbers are stark: around 400,000 students already live in the capital, but there are just over 100,000 PBSA bedrooms available.
And this is in a city that’s already failing to meet basic housing needs. London councils are struggling to cope with a deepening rental crisis, with boroughs like Wandsworth now placing homeless families in hotels due to a lack of available accommodation. Adding thousands more students to that fragile system without an additional housing supply is simply unsustainable.
Construction firms, local councils, and PBSA providers simply can’t build student units fast enough. And while tax changes, land scarcity, and affordable housing quotas all slow development, one factor is compounding crisis more than any other.
Building safety regulations are causing gridlock in the PBSA pipeline. Introduced in 2022, these rules were meant to improve standards in ‘higher risk’ buildings, typically those over seven storeys or 18 metres tall. High-rise schemes are stalling at key BSR gateways, mandatory checkpoints that projects must pass by submitting detailed drawings and meeting stringent safety requirements. When a project misses a gateway, it can be knocked back by months.
These aren’t just bureaucratic delays, they’re blocking thousands of student beds. Unite Students has warned that BSR issues are now causing an average six-month delay across its national pipeline, with four of its projects still awaiting regulatory approval from the regulator.
The impact on the private rental market is tangible. London already faces a shortage of affordable homes, and properties at the lower end of the market are disappearing fast, especially with the Renters Rights Bill due to come into effect this year, with a third of private landlords expected to exit the market when the bill comes into effect, according to a recent study. Yet more students are now renting from private landlords, and that extra demand is driving up local prices.
To put this into perspective, just six high-rise student blocks could house at least 3,000 students. If they’re not ready in time for the academic year, all 3,000 will spill into the rental market, a flood of new renters that local families can’t compete with.
The recent decision to create a dedicated BSR team shows that the government understands the scale of the challenge. The regulator has been moved into the housing department, with new staff and a faster triage process to clear the backlog. That’s welcome, but I remain sceptical it will lead to short-term, seismic changes without clearer prioritisation.
The regulator needs a focused action plan to unblock high-priority projects. PBSA developments should be near the top of that list. Regulators must allow developers to move projects forward in time for student intake cycles, otherwise delays cascade year after year.
The government should also embed PBSA within its broader housing strategy. In Thameside West alone, over 25,000 new homes are planned. Yet, there’s no visible commitment to student accommodation in that scheme. That’s a missed opportunity. Student housing can ease pressure on rental stock and stabilise local markets, but only if it’s planned and delivered in time.
BSR regulation was rightly introduced to improve safety and protect lives. But if implementation continues to stall student housing at this scale, it risks turning a policy designed for protection into one that quietly undermines housing access for thousands.
The PBSA sector stands ready to support safer, better-built accommodation, but we need the regulators and government to back the sector by accelerating stalled projects and unlocking the student housing pipeline.
