Europe - Real Estate/Property: UK student housing with StuRents: late booking, lower growth, rising risks

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Europe - Real Estate/Property: UK student housing with StuRents: late booking, lower growth, rising risks

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Europe - Real Estate/Property

UK student housing with StuRents: late

booking, lower growth, rising risks

Industry Overview

Softening demand 30 June 2026

We invited Richard Ward, Head of Research at StuRents, to share his outlook on the UK Equity

student housing market. Studio PBSA occupancy for the 2026/27 year sits at 43% as of Europe

April, down 2ppt YoY (Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2). This follows a materially weaker prior cycle, Real Estate/Property

with lettings c.13ppt below historic levels. The signal is not demand destruction but Thomas Hynes >>

timing: booking patterns continue to shift later, with leasing velocity expected to recover Research Analyst

through summer. That said, structural headwinds are building, with a rising share of MLI+44 (UK)20 7995 9037

18-year-olds opting to live at home and commute, capping medium-term absorption, and thomas.hynes2@bofa.com

not mentioning the drop in student population from 2030. Marc Mozzi >>

Research Analyst

BofASE (France)

+33 1 8770 0374Affordability caps growth at 1-2%

marc.mozzi@bofa.com

Rental growth is normalising sharply to 1–2%, well below the double-digit gains of

2022–23. Affordability is now a key constraint on PBSA and binding, reshaping behaviour MarkusResearchKulessaAnalyst >>

and limiting pricing power. Incentives are becoming harder to read: the sector appears to BofASE (France)

+33 1 8770 0382

have entered a pattern where students delay bookings in anticipation of better deals, markus.kulessa@bofa.com

making behaviour increasingly difficult for operators to influence (Exhibit 7). Incentives

remain broadly flat YoY but are increasingly embedded in decision-making. Changes in