U.K. student accommodation investment hits €2.4b in H1

Investors spent £656 million (€775 million/$908 million) in the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector in the United Kingdom in the second quarter of this year, taking total spending for 2021 to nearly £2 billion (€2.4 billion/$2.8 billion), reported Knight Frank. Investment for the comparable period of 2020 was £5 billion (€5.9 billion/$6.9 billion), though £4.66 billion (€5.5 billion/$6.5 billion) of that was for a single deal, namely Blackstone’s acquisition of the IQ portfolio.

But while total spending may be down year-on-year, analysis of deal numbers points to a more active market. Cumulative deal volumes so far this year (to June) are 47 percent higher than the same period in 2020 and 4 percent higher than in 2019.

A pick-up in investment transactions is a positive sign for the market. It suggests investors are happy to look beyond the short-term disruption, and they have confidence in the sector’s ability to deliver long-term, stable