Proximity to universities supports housing price growth, particularly for lower-profile UK college towns. The new academic year offers a stimulus to property prices as growing UK student populations fuel housing demand. See the following article from Property Wire for more on this.
New students boost house prices in university towns, especially the less well known ones, according to a new analysis from Lloyds TSB.
The arrival of A Level results marks the scramble to fill university places across the UK. While most first year students get ready to settle into halls, some freshers will join their second or third year counterparts in opting for privately owned housing, boosting the local market, it latest report says.
Some 60% of university towns across the UK have seen house price growth outperform the region in the past five years, with the biggest increases appearing in towns that have seen a real uplift in the number of students over the same time.
Aberdeen, home to 29,300 students, saw a house price gain of almost 40% compared to 14% price growth across Scotland. This is coupled with a 54% increase in the student population, the research shows.
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The University of Ulster campus is responsible for a 30% growth in student population in Coleraine since 2005 and has recorded a price increase of 34%, ahead of the 24% for Northern Ireland.
In Winchester, prices rose by 30% in comparison to 2.5% in the South East as student numbers in the town were boosted by 78%. The average house price of £385,713 is 114% above the UK average of £180,501.
However, it’s more of a mixed picture for some of the UK’s largest and most popular University Towns, despite an increase in student population. Edinburgh, having the eighth largest student population in the UK, has seen house prices rise by 11% in the last five years, as student numbers rose by over a third to 55,195.
While London and Glasgow recorded price growth of just 5% since 2005, although the student population rose by 76% and 43% respectively. Student numbers have risen by 66% in Birmingham, but house prices are 3% lower than five years ago and just over 11% below the West Midlands average.
Yet Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham have all seen their student population rise by over a third, but only the West Yorkshire city has an average house price above that of the region.
‘Growing student numbers have had a big impact in boosting house prices in some university towns where the increase in demand has led to the local market outperforming the rest of the region,’ said Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Lloyds TSB.
‘In the past five years population across the university towns in UK has increased by nearly a million students. Naturally, this has boosted demand for property and land to provide suitable accommodation for students,’ Patel added.
This article has been republished from Property Wire. You can also view this article at Property Wire, an international real estate news site.
