Student rental market crippled by soaring demand and accommodation shortage

The average rents seem high. In Cardiff we charge rents of £250 to £270 per month to students and approximately £180 in the valleys.

Of course we are going to be pushed out of business by the Government. The idea is that our properties should no longer be used to house students (private rentals, bad; owner-occupied houses, good), and our properties must somehow move into the 'owner-occupied' category. If this happens - and if first time buyers and/or second-time buyers are interested in buying HMOs and turning them into family homes (?!), where will the students live? It seems that they don't matter.

But I do see very expensive student housing being built by companies - so maybe they'll get the monopoly and students in the future will have no other option and have to pay their far higher rents. And this is seen as good? As if students want to take on even greater debt. If students realised this they would be up in arms too, but they also don't have much of a voice. Competition in the student lettings market could be wiped out.

in one town i am familiar with there has been lots of new student flats built over the last 3 years and two more under construction. The students seem to prefer them else they wouldn't always be full which they are but then again they are probably a captive market. I suspect a lot of universities in time will want to build flats to rent to their students as an extra income source.

I agree with Ros that the rentals quoted seem on the high side. This can be explained by looking at the source of the figures: Spareroom.com So the figures will be based on the asking price of rooms advertised with them, and in places such as Reading (where I live) there are always a few expensive rooms which are advertised repeatedly (because they rarely get let) along with cheaper rooms which go instantly.

Reply to the comment left by "Ethical Man" at "20/09/2015 - 21:22":

Ethical Man..I have some properties in Reading. How much rent would you say too much rent per room?

We seem to have a bit of a Reading Reunion going on at the moment: I too rent property in Reading, and I think Spareroom's statistics are unreliable. Firstly, as Ethical Man says, are these figures skewed because they are asking prices? Secondly, do the figures quoted include utility bills? How does Spareroom adjust its figures to cater for those landlords who don't include bills? Perhaps it just assumes that the same proportion of landlords include bills or don't across the country, but it ought to make it clear whether or not its figures include bills.

That said, at least Spareroom have *some* figures. Most statistics ignore the HMO/houseshare sector entirely.

Saeef: it's impossible to say how much rent is "too much" across a whole city - you need to compare your specific property with its near-equivalents in terms of quality and location. It sounds obvious but a three-bed semi at the outside edge of Lower Earley is going to attract a different mix of tenants with different levels of expectations and income compared with a three-bed semi in the University area or near the main station, so you need to compare like with like.