Overwhelmed and under-stocked, the student rental market is on the verge of reaching breaking point. This strong statement emerged in research from property developer Stripe Property Group which revealed that there are now three students for every student bed available.

According to the study, there are now 2,180,419 full-time university students across the UK, 8% more than there were prior to the pandemic (2019/20). At the same time, there are just 697,734 student beds available to them and while this has been steadily increasing, the number of beds has grown by just 6% when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

As a result, there are now 3.1 students for every one bed available to them, up from 3 students for every one bed in 2019/20. That’s a current shortfall of almost 1.5m student beds to meet the demand required across purpose-built student accommodation.

When analysing the current demand for student rental properties, the problem facing many university students remains abundantly clear. Despite the new academic year having only recently started, there’s already high demand for student rentals from those looking next year and the research showed that across 15 of the UK’s major university towns, almost a fifth of student-specific rental properties have already been snapped up.

The continued rise of the student population and demand for accommodation close to campuses could well encourage more landlords to carefully evaluate how and where to integrate student lets and HMOs into their portfolios, especially when you take into account the robust yields on offer.

Whilst availability, accessibility and rates attached to funding for student lets have all improved in recent times, this remains a complex financing option for landlords. Meaning that even the most experienced landlords are realising the importance of a good, professional advice process to help them tap into the opportunities as they arise in this growing sector of the BTL market.