LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Unite Group Plc. (UTG.L) or Unite Students, a provider of student accommodation, announced Tuesday that it continues to see strong demand from students and universities, and that its outlook for student numbers is positive for the 2025/26 academic year.
The firm remains on track to deliver rental growth of 4 percent to 5 percent and occupancy of 97 percent to 98 percent for the new year.
The company issued the update on current trading and quarterly property valuations for the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund or USAF and the London Student Accommodation Joint Venture or LSAV as of March 31.
The company noted that the pace of sales has increased since its preliminary results and 75 percent of rooms are now reserved for the 2025/26 academic year, compared to 84 percent in the same period last year. This is in-line with its expectations for a later sales cycle, following the normalisation in leasing trends in 2024.
Demand from universities is strong for the coming year, as they look to secure accommodation to meet student demand, resulting in nomination agreements for 56 percent of beds for 2025/26, same as the prior year.
Joe Lister, Unite Students Chief Executive Officer, said, 'Student numbers are expected to increase again for the 2025/26 academic year due to a growing UK 18-year-old population and improving trends in international student recruitment. Reservations have accelerated in recent weeks, in line with our expectations for a later leasing cycle, and are underpinned by nomination agreements from our university partners.... We also expect an increase in international student recruitment this year based on growth in undergraduate applications for 2025/26 and higher issuance of student visas in the year to date.'
The company further said that it is in the advanced stages of agreeing a new joint venture with Manchester Metropolitan University to develop 2,300 beds at the University's Cambridge Halls site in Manchester city centre for delivery in 2029 and 2030.
At March 31, USAF's property portfolio was independently valued at 2.91 billion pounds, a 0.7 percent increase on a like-for-like basis during the first quarter.
LSAV's property portfolio was independently valued at 2.08 billion pounds, a 0.8 percent increase on a like-for-like basis during the quarter.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
