Press Release Summary: Investors looking for the best opportunities in buy-to-let property the UK may be best off deciding to follow those who study hard.
Press Release Body: Investors looking for the best opportunities in buy-to-let property the UK may be best off deciding to follow those who study hard.
This is doubly so, according to property consultancy King Sturge. Partly it is a case of studying where the market is and then discovering the market is where people study, reports Residential Landlord.
King Sturge\'s research into the situation has revealed that last year it was worth over £700 million in transactions. It has also concluded that the student sector can now be classed as a market in its own right, quite separate from any other.
Furthermore, King Sturge reported, demand is growing faster than supply can meet. \"This year we have recorded a strong increase in the number of privately developed, purpose-built beds, up by 36 per cent since 2005 to more than 123,500,\" said Philip Hillman, head of the firm\'s student accommodation group. Yet the supply is still not keeping up, with a six per cent increase in the last academic year in student numbers.
This growing market may help a number of towns and cities remain good investment locations. Manchester, which has 70,000 students according to Residential Landlord, is made more attractive by its \"huge student base\", stated Tom Rogers, residential investment consultant at Savills in the city. (Manchesterfacts.com puts the student number higher still at 100,000, with this tally including all four universities - Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan plus Salford and Bolton - in the conurbation).
Another example of this is Middlesbrough, where John Murphy, managing director of Alpha Independent Financial Planning in the town, told the Evening Gazette \"high student population\" in the area was one of the reasons for the town having strong buy-to-let prospects.
Furthermore, studies in the past year have shown that the yields landlords can gain from renting to students tend to be greater than in the overall buy-to-let sector. Last October, for instance, a study by Paragon revealed that student property yields tended to be 25 per cent higher. Paragon group chief executive Nigel Terrington commented: \"Strong tenant demand in the student market is driving yields in that sector. If landlords select the right type of property in the right location, the returns from the student market can be extremely healthy.\"
It is not just in established university towns and cities that this market exists. Many new towns and cities have begun to host university education for the first time this academic year, opening up whole new markets for buy-to-let where none previously existed. While some places may be growing, these have been starting from scratch.
One example has seen university education in Ipswich for the first time, with the advent of University Campus Suffolk, a collaboration between the universities of Essex and East Anglia. Another case has been that of the University of Cumbria, which has taken over existing University of Lancaster campuses and expanded them, as well as absorbing other local institutions. The result is that Carlisle has become the centre of a university rather than an outpost.
As a consequence both locations - isolated from major cities and with population of a little over 100,000 - have been faced with a quick adjustment while only having a finite number of properties. These in turn have created new opportunities for landlords.
Where these have gone, other towns and cities may soon follow, bringing substantial student numbers to places which at present have few or none. Investors looking to make the most of this market may do well to keep studying where the next such developments are taking place.
In today\'s world Property investment is an excellent investment option especially investment in UK
2025
