Early reports show a significant decrease in university applications for 2012/3 apparently because of concerns over increased tuition fees, leading some property “gurus” to predict a major decrease in the amount of rental accommodation being sought by students seek. However, Terry Lucking, owner of Belvoir Cambridge, a leading lettings agent in Cambridge is reassuring investors that this is not a long term issue.
Terry Lucking, of Belvoir Cambridge, who offer a wide range of student rental property in Cambridge, said: “Buy to let property investors have no need to worry, our experience in Cambridge is that we have seen minimal reduction in the number of students looking for rented accommodation vs the number of properties available and so demand still exceeds supply.
“Last year we often had as many as 20 students turn up to view the same property in Cambridge and even if that declines a little in 2012 there will still be a shortage of good quality, private student accommodation , meaning it remains a good long term investment.”
With increases of £9000 in annual tuition fees, naturally there were concerns that more school leavers would look for work and not go to university at all has rattled some investors into thinking that the student market may decline significantly.
Terry disagrees: “Even if a larger number of young people are looking for work straight out of school I believe it is a good thing for the rental industry. Better paid jobs at a younger age, mean they will still be wanting leave home earlier at a similar time to their friends who choose to go to university, and so we will have a whole new target audience for rented property.”
These ‘fresh out of school or college’ young people seem to be the start of a new trend of wanting to earn money immediately and not go to university, and this has been supported by an increase in tenancy applications from this new sector.
Reports have also suggested that it is a different story when looking at overseas students, as early figures show an increase in applications.
“Landlords need to be aware of the bigger picture when making investment decisions, and another potential area for growth is amongst foreign students studying in the UK in 2012 which will mitigate reductions elsewhere. In Cambridge we would expect to let 100% of our student properties easily for 2012 and 2013.”, concluded Terry.
Belvoir Lettings Agency in Cambridge are lettings only specialists and provide a full range of services including property management, tenant find, investment and wealth management advice, fit-outs and renovations and investment property insurances and mortgages.
