Unite Students has indicated strong growth and practically full student accommodation (97.5%) blocks amid record demand from students due to the scarcity of housing supply.
Their Q3 trading update announced that like-for-like rental growth was 8.2% and occupancy was 97.5% for the 2024/25 academic year.
The company expects a rental growth of 4% to 5% for the 2025/2026 academic year. Unite Students added that its development pipeline is fully funded and will see the delivery of an additional 4,600 beds between 2025 and 2028 at a total cost of £913m.
“The outlook for the business is positive with strong student demand at a time of limited new supply and ongoing investment into our portfolio and platform.
“We have made good progress with the delivery of our record development pipeline and deploying the proceeds of our recent capital raise. These projects will deliver much needed new student homes in some of the UK’s strongest university cities and help to ease wider housing shortages.”
Joe Lister, Chief Executive Officer, Unite Students
Unite Students said international demand has been resilient in the face of changes to the visa policy, and that acceptances for international undergraduates through UCAS was broadly flat year on year.
“We expect the visa change to most significantly impact lower-tariff institutions, particularly those with a high dependence on students from Nigeria and India.”
Unite Students Q3 2024 trading update
Unite Student added that demand from domestic students has normalised after the exceptional sales cycle of 2023/2024, with undergraduate acceptances for UK 18-year-olds up 3% year on year.
There is a positive outlook for the 2025/26 academic year. Demographic growth supports strong demand from UK students and Unite are encouraged by the positive tone of the new Government towards international student recruitment, ending a period of policy uncertainty.
Other competing student destinations, including Australia and Canada have recently introduced caps for international student numbers as part of tighter visa rules, which the company expect to add to the relative attractiveness of the UK as a place to study.
Supply of PBSA remains constrained with development completions for PBSA at around half of their pre-pandemic levels and a shrinking supply of HMOs in the market.
Rental growth will also be enhanced by the capture of reversion on long-term nomination agreements and income-enhancing asset management initiatives.
The trading update follows news of Unite Students submitted planning for its Mercury Point PBSA scheme. The new development will fully adhere to Unite Students’ sustainable construction framework, which aims to achieve net-zero carbon in construction and operation.
