Generation’s joint venture with pan-European real estate investment manager, Europa Capital, the Europa Generation Student Fund has achieved its 97% occupancy target (101% of budgeted income) for the 2019/20 academic year across its UK student housing portfolio following strong demand from a diversified student base.
Approximately a third of students are in their first year of study with an additional third on postgraduate courses. Applications from Chinese students to UK Universities increased by more than 30% for this academic year, which is reflected in the portfolio where 43% of the students now come from China, with 37% from the UK, whilst only 6% originate from EU countries.
It has also announced that it achieved practical completion of its new development in Oxford.
Between Towns Court, Oxford, completed in late July and achieved 100% occupancy on opening in September. Located just off the popular Cowley Road, the building provides 140 high quality en-suite study bedrooms and four studios. The building let quickly whilst under construction reflecting the continuing shortage of purpose-built student accommodation in Oxford, and has proved to be particularly attractive for students studying at Oxford Brookes University, as well as postgraduate students at Oxford University.
Alan Artus, co-founder of Generation and Partner at Europa Generation, said: “Achieving near full occupancy is a significant milestone for the Fund and demonstrates that demand for high quality accommodation in strong UK cities, as well as the resilience of the UK PBSA market, despite wider macro uncertainty. The strong performance of our Between Towns Court asset, which has reached 100% occupancy in its first year, is further evidence of this. The opportunities for institutional investors to access the PBSA market in collective vehicles remain limited. Therefore, our ambition is to scale this platform, broaden our investor base and grow the portfolio throughout the United Kingdom.”
