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Why So Many Students Book Student Accommodation Early
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Why So Many Students Book Student Accommodation Early

Written by Sam | October 28, 2020

In a previous article, I mentioned that I disagreed with students booking student accommodation in October and November and I just wanted to explain the reasons behind why so many students book in these early months.

If you have done your research, you know what you want and you have been on several viewings then booking isn’t that bad, but many students rush in because the demand outweighs the good supply of student accommodation and is effectively a race to the bottom in most student cities.

Supply Vs Demand

In most student cities there is enough accommodation for each student as not all will get booked, however, the problem arises when the good quality and valuable accommodation gets taken and then what’s left is average or below par student accommodation that charges premium prices because they know there aren’t many other options left.

Student accommodation can cost more than you think and there is nothing wrong with this as long as the quality and services matches, however, when the prices stays the same and the quality goes down and the service disappears it then becomes frustrating for the students.

Many property investors will invest in a HMO (Houses of Multiple Occupation) because they can rent out each room instead of the house as a whole. The costs associated with it are higher but the returns are also greater. The management is also greater because students will leave each year or two and there is likely to be faults on the property at some point – landlords can’t avoid every fault.

Local councils have introduced standards so that in certain areas the HMO needs to be licensed and inspected by the council, but some still fall through the net.

Why Students Book?

Many student accommodation providers including letting agents open their bookings up for the next academic year in late October. A lot of the time the market can be driven by students booking for the following year because of fear and security.

Many students want to know that they have a good, reliable, quality place to stay for the following year. Roughly according to research from Knight Frank roughly about 10% of students book in October / November from the sample they took and then it increases in the following months. I would want to know that I will be staying in a good place for next year.

The fear comes out of not having a place to stay or having bad student accommodation, however, what is very common is that many students can regret the people they are living with or their choice of the accommodation provider. If you have found a good place and live with good people then rebooking is a good idea and should come first.

If students start the process later of researching letting agents, student accommodation providers and attending viewings to compare places to stay then their chances go down because of the students that have booked already and if they leave it too long they aren’t sure what will be left and if it will be good quality.

These aspects cause the process of students to start booking accommodation early for the following year.

Reasons To Wait Before Booking Your Student Accommodation

As I have said before, I think it should be left until later for the following reasons:

  • You know where you want to live
  • Who you want to live with
  • You know the providers and the type of service they offer
  • Know what a good quality student house looks like
  • Understand what is high rent for below standard accommodation
  • You can read the tenancies

These are the reasons why, if you leave it an extra 4-6 weeks you can save a year of regret for yourself and potentially your friends.

From an accommodation & letting agent point of view, they want students to book for the following year because they can start to see what the demand is like and forecasting their budgets and making sure that they are going to be making enough money. Everyone in the business needs rent to survive and pay staff, pay investors and make sure they can offer a better service than last year!

It needs balance, if you have done your research and know what you want and who you want to live with, book your accommodation for next academic year and you won’t have to worry about it for the following year, if you haven’t done anything, please do the research and follow the process before booking next years student accommodation.

It is changing and there is more good student accommodation being built, designed and renovated, but at this current time, there still isn’t enough!

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