UniLodge Melbourne City
As overseas students return in greater numbers, there’s been plenty of activity in the purpose-built student housing sector (PBSA).
In July 2022 there were 71,220 international student arrivals to Australia, while this number was 50.5 per cent lower than pre-COVID levels in July 2019. It represents a massive jump from 70,710 students compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
It matches a slew of activity in the sector over the last few months and the launch of the Property Council’s Student Accommodation Council, led by Torie Brown.
Cedar Pacific recently acquired an established 405-bed facility in central Adelaide for roughly $50 million.
The building was purchased from Centennial Property Group and is leased to the University of Adelaide, which runs it for both domestic and foreign students. It is Cedar Pacific’s second asset in Adelaide.
The group has two high-rise facilities under construction in the Melbourne CBD, totally over 1,300 beds.
Earlier in the year, the group opened one of the world’s tallest purpose built student accommodation towers in Melbourne, operated by UniLodge.
Meanwhile, after securing the rights to develop a nearly 1-hectare property on Anzac Parade, Iglu will construct a massive 1,100-bed precinct across the road from the University of NSW’s Kensington campus.
The 9,280-square-metre plot at 215 Anzac Parade is a parking lot adjacent to the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). After winning a competitive procurement procedure run by CBRE, Iglu, which is funded by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, has obtained a 99-year lease on the land from the university.
At the same time, Scape Australia is moving through with plans for a $50 million building in Melbourne’s inner-city neighbourhood of Carlton.
Scape, the country’s largest student housing owner and operator, is developing a 15-level construction at 130 Leicester Street, a 975sqm site now occupied by a four-story warehouse-converted-office that Oxfam acquired for $15 million in mid-2021.
According to a Student Accommodation Council and Urbis report, in the last five years PBSA has delivered 31,000 purpose-built student beds worth $9.3 billion, while construction of these new assets has created around 4,700 jobs.
Yugo officially opened a $110 million student accommodation tower – one of Adelaide’s tallest buildings – a few months ago.
Yugo Adelaide City can accommodate 725 students, including a mix of international and domestic students, with 90 per cent of occupancy hailing from the former category.
“The student accommodation sector is a growing asset class that provides an immediate sugar-hit to our CBDs, embedding a vibrant population wherever they are located,” Student Accommodation Council Executive director Torie Brown said.
“Following the lock-downs of Covid and the trend to work from home, ensuring our CBDs have people living, shopping and playing in them has never been more important.
“As the student accommodation sector rebounds from Covid, it is critical that government, industry and the education sector work together to ensure a wealth of housing choices for our students.”
Currently, there is over 123,000 beds across roughly 500 facilities with nearly 30,000 new beds to be delivered over the next five years.