UK's biggest student landlord struggles as young people stay at home

UK's biggest student landlord struggles as young people stay at home Britain’s biggest student landlord is struggling to fill its university halls of residence as more young people stay at home to save money. Unite Group has also been hit by a drop in overseas learners and fewer domestic students taking the plunge because they do not want to rack up big debts. In an update, the company said 86% of its beds in its student digs had been reserved ahead of the new academic year, which starts in September. However, that was after cutting prices. While the reservation rate at this stage is marginally higher than the 85% a year ago, it is much lower than the 94% ahead of the 2024/25 academic year. The situation has changed a lot since the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, when Unite’s halls of residence were regularly more than 97% full. The company’s share price has more than halved since 2022, and fell another 2% in early trading after the latest update. It has responded by a host of halls in less popular universities up for sale to focus on leading sites of learning instead, and hopes to offload between £300million and £400million worth of properties this year. Joe Lister, Unite Group chief executive, insisted: “We have seen strong progress in reservations for the 2026/27 academic year since our last update in May. This reflects our strong direct marketing and sales performance together with targeted adjustments to pricing in selected markets.” He previously said: “Student loans haven’t kept up with inflation. And so more of the burden is being placed on students themselves or on their families.” Unite Group has a total of 72,000 bed across 208 properties in 29 cities. It owns Unite Students, which is primarily at first year students, and has among others more than 12,500 beds in London, 5,600 in Manchester, 5,300 in Liverpool, and almost 5,000 in Bristol. It also owns Hello Students, whose focus is more on young people in other years. Despite the challenges, Unite says it expect its properties to be 94% to 96% full for the next academic year, and rental income to grow by 1% to 2%. It previously expected rents to rise by as much as 3%. The firm has also been forced to reduce the estimated value of its properties. In the update it said those in its Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund had fall by 2.2% to just under £3billion. Max Harper, senior analyst at Third Bridge, said: "The wider market is likely to continue facing headwinds, with higher live-at-home rates among students and falling demand for lower-tier universities as the cost-benefit of a degree comes into question."