2022 Student Accommodation

21

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

STUDENT TO BED RATIOS AND MARKET HEADROOM

FIVE YEAR HEADROOM MOVEMENT

-30% -20% -10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Source: Cushman & Wakefield

The national student to bed ratio now stands at 2.39:1, growing from 2.19:1 in 2019/20. The university-only student to bed ratio stands at 3.0:1, reinforcing the reliance that now exists on the private sector to house students. This is especially the case in city locations and in London.

In an environment of significant student number growth, there has been an 8% increase in market “headroom” across the UK between 2016/17 and 2020/21, with the ten largest non-London markets seeing headroom increase by 6%. However, this masks huge variances by location, with headroom in Bristol increasing by 43% - new bed supply has been at only 18% of the growth rate in the demand pool - whilst in Sheffield, overall headroom has fallen by 30%. The latter has seen PBSA supply grow by 36% in a market where the demand for bed spaces has only increased by 4%. Headroom in Nottingham has grown by 36% over the same period, increasing developer interest and leading to the city having the largest development pipeline in the UK outside of London.