We love Liverpool! 62% of higher education students select the north-west city as the best place to study in the UK
It’s great news for potential investors in student accommodation as new data identifying the best places in the UK to be a student has just been released. Accommodationforstudents.com, the UK’s No 1 student accommodation website, conducted 46,000 student reviews across 62 university towns around the UK and found that 62% voted the city of Liverpool the best place to study.
Students were asked to rank the location of their university (out of 10) based on five different criteria – shops (supermarkets, corner shops, book shops, video shops), facilities (gyms, libraries, parks), transport links (buses, trams, trains, underground), going out (restaurants, pubs, clubs) and community (safety, student population, surroundings).
The findings obtained from the criteria show that although Newcastle took the title with an overall rating of 64% locations including Liverpool and Manchester weren’t too far behind, taking joint second place at 62%.
Ray Withers, Director of leading property investment agency, Property Frontiers which has successfully marketed numerous student accommodation projects in the city of Liverpool, comments,
“We are delighted that Liverpool, home to three of the country’s leading universities and around 53,000 students scored extremely well in the review. It’s not surprising that students enjoy Liverpool life. Voted European Capital of Culture in 2008, Liverpool has a huge selection of cultural and leisure activities to enjoy from music and the arts to the UNESCO listed waterfront and the all-important A-grade nightlife. It’s just a great place to study all round and we at Property Frontiers have certainly noted its potential.”
He continues,
“As demand for academic courses reaches record highs according to UCAS with nearly 700,000 university applications in 2010 alone, investors are quickly beginning to appreciate that the UK’s latest buy to let sector, student accommodation, is big business and can no longer be ignored.
“Data provided by Knight Frank 2010 indicate that rents in Liverpool in the last academic year, 2008/9 – 2009/10, increased by 13%, vastly exceeding the average 5% growth per annum seen nationally in the six years to 2008/9. And as Liverpool’s universities are expecting to attract even higher numbers of applicants for the next academic year, creating strong demand for student accommodation, shrewd buy-to-let investors will certainly not want to miss out.”
Many more young people are realising the value of higher education than ever before and Liverpool universities in particular have seen significant increases in applications between 2008 and 2010. According to statistics from UCAS, in 2008 The University of Liverpool had 27,465 applications which rose to 32,022 in 2010 while Liverpool John Moores University received 28,123 applicants in 2008 rising to 34,182 by 2010. In addition, Liverpool Hope University received 8,314 applications compared to 7,627 back in 2008 clearly indicating that more and more students are seeking degree courses year on year, pushing up the need for accommodation and increasing opportunities for buy-to-let investors.
Currently only 50% of all students in the UK have access to high quality purpose-built student accommodation according to the Knight Frank Student Report 2011 however more effort is being made to change this with The University of Liverpool planning to invest £600 million pounds in its facilities, including a £250 million pound redevelopment of the university’s student accommodation with the construction of a 710 bedroom development in the city centre campus already underway.
However, in spite of the university’s attempt to increase the level of available student accommodation the stock of new student housing will nevertheless remain limited with demand continuing to outstrip supply as increasing numbers of students from both home and overseas seek to attend universities in Liverpool and the UK placing increasing pressure on the housing supply.
The emphasis has therefore now shifted to building new high quality private student housing developments such as Hatton Garden, the latest and most prestigious student project available through Property Frontiers.
The 98 private en-suite student rooms with flat screen TV and internet connection have excellent on-site facilities and will include sufficient kitchen space, communal lounges with 42 inch flat screen TVs on each floor, an on-site gymnasium, computer/media service centre, management office and laundry facilities.
Located in the heart of the city, minutes from John Moores University, Lime Street station and popular shops, restaurants and nightlife, Hatton Garden is everything a student could ever dream of and with rooms costing only £48,000, investors can expect weighty returns of 10.03% NET with the first year assured. Monthly rental income is to be paid from 1st March 2012.
For more information on this lucrative investment opportunity in Liverpool please call Property Frontiers today on +44 (0) 1865 202 700 or visit www.propertyfrontiers.com