Amber Beat: Global Student Accommodation Market News - April 2025, Week 02

About Amber Beat

Missed keeping track of all the latest happenings in the student accommodation market?

Amber Beat is a weekly snapshot of the key developments in top student accommodation markets.  This newsletter provides you with all the information you need to know, from new upcoming projects to current trends, news affecting students to government policies, we’ve got you covered!

Amber Beat | News from April 04-10, 2025

United Kingdom

• 80% of UK Universities miss recruitment targets for 2024 as international student enrollments decline by 12.8% (Source)
• UK sees 27% surge in international student deposits for 2025 as global policy shifts drive demand (Source)
• Unite Group reports 75% of beds sold for 2025/26, announces Q1 valuations with 0.7% growth for USAF and 0.8% for LSAV (Source)
• Far East Orchard acquires £10.9M Manchester PBSA site, adding 239 beds to 4,900-bed UK portfolio amid 18% student growth (Source)
• Unite Students begins £124M development of 934-bed PBSA in Glasgow, expanding portfolio to 3,200 beds (Source)
• HUB, Bridges & HGP launch Edinburgh’s largest PBSA with 604 beds and £79M loan from BGO (Source)
• Moda and Aermont launch £1B+ PBSA JV, starting with 600-bed leeds scheme as part of £2bn living platform (Source)
• Torsion begins construction on 189-bed Oxford PBSA with rooftop terrace and courtyard amenities (Source)
• Valpre Capital acquires 244-bed PBSA site in Elephant and Castle; 24-storey Roc Club to complete by Q2 2028 (Source)
• Muirhead House reopens after £6.25M refurbishment, upgrading 127 bedrooms with sustainability features at University of Stirling (Source)
• British offsite to deliver £2M, 138-Bed Orchard Park PBSA in Cambridge using UNisystemLB for 30% faster build (Source)

United States of America

• Trump admin revokes visas of nearly 300 international students from top U.S. universities, sparking deportation fears (Source)
• U.S. student housing rent growth drops to 2.5% in March, largest monthly decline in six years; 35,703 off-campus beds added in 2024, supply to dip in 2025 (Source)
• F-1 visa revocations rise under Trump-era rules; students removed despite legal status as SEVIS records deleted without notice across multiple U.S. campuses (Source)
• U.S. colleges report abrupt visa revocations for international students amid Trump administration scrutiny, impacting campuses like Harvard, Stanford, and UCLA (Source)
• JLL arranges sale of 344-bed The Edge student housing near University of West Florida in Pensacola, built in 2017 with 84 units (Source)
• UMaine to raise tuition by 3% and housing by 4.25% in Fall 2025 at Orono and Machias campuses, citing loss of nearly $30M in USDA grants (Source)
• Western Michigan University to invest $159.4M in Valley student housing project in Kalamazoo, set to open fall 2026 (Source)
• Tailwind Group acquires 576-bed, 180-unit The Beacon in Auburn, Ala.; rebrands 1999-built student housing as The Quarters Auburn with amenity upgrades planned (Source)
• Signature on Grand, a 158-unit student housing project near University of Tennessee, begins construction in Knoxville to meet rising demand (Source)
• Pepperdine to phase out 65-bed Calamigos Living in Malibu as housing undergoes renovations through May 2026 (Source)
• Foothill-De Anza to buy 94-unit McClellan Terrace for $66.7M, converting Cupertino apartments into 332-bed student housing by fall 2025 (Source)
• San Marcos rejects 7-story, 2.2-acre student housing project near West Hopkins H-E-B (Source)

Australia

• Coalition to cap international student enrolments at 240,000 annually, 30,000 less than Labor’s proposal, to limit overseas students to 25% at public universities, to ease housing pressure in Sydney & Melbourne (Source)
• Coalition proposes to hike student visa fees to $5,000 for Group of Eight applicants and $2,500 for others, on top of Labor’s 2024 125% fee hike, sparks backlash, warning drop in international student numbers (Source)
• A 452-bed student accommodation project “Journal Campus House” by Brookfield and Citiplan in Melbourne CBD, marks their first JV opposite University of Melbourne (Source)
• Freecity acquires 2 office sites in Sydney Olympic Park for $90.88M, planning mixed-use development featuring BTR, student accommodation, and affordable housing; construction to begin in 2026 & completion by 2029 (Source)
• Lady Lamington, a 695-bed premium PBSA asset in Brisbane’s Herston Quarter, developed by Australian Unity, listed for sale, next to UQ’s Herston Campus and QUT Kelvin Grove (Source)
• Savills lists 695-bed PBSA in Brisbane’s historic Lady Lamington Building with 95% occupancy and 65+ student nationalities (Source)

Canada

• UTILE breaks ground on $87.7M Griffintown student housing project in Montreal with 285 affordable units for over 350 students, set to open by summer 2027 (Source)
• Forum halts $15.5M, 587-bed Phase 2 student housing project at 601 Scottsdale Drive in Guelph after new development charges render it economically unviable (Source)
• Werkliv pushes prefab student housing in Montreal, urges federal action to cut delays and boost financing for faster, affordable builds using Avac Beton panels (Source)

Europe

• Student residences in Spain now serve only 10% of the university population as Valencia doubles the supply in 5 years (Source)
• Poland's PRS market grows 30% YoY, set to reach 80,000 units by 2028 amid student housing shortage (Source)
• French startup Roof raises €20M to launch €50M plan for over 1,000 student rooms across major cities (Source)
• Kronach to build €10M student residence with 70 apartments to strengthen university appeal in Germany (Source)
• Milan to add 400 new beds at MIND Campus in Italy, boosting the University of Milan’s student housing capacity to nearly 1,700 (Source)
• EIB backs €95M University of Crete project adding 2,833 rooms, 4,846 beds across two campuses (Source)