Student Accommodation Sector – Update

Earlier this week, UCAS shared the 2021 release of University application numbers with the X1 team – an extremely useful piece of research that provides a snapshot into application numbers and thoughts amongst potential applicants.

The 2021 Cycle Applicant Figures document provides data with core numbers for 2021
(29th January) application deadline. These figures have been compared with historic application deadlines of the 15th of January.

Overall in England, there was a total of 415,470 applicants through UCAS for September 2021 academic study and a 43.2% application rate.

The above comes to light whilst research from The Telegraph reveals that students have made rental payments close to £1 billion on accommodation which has been left empty due to the pandemic.

Whilst Universities have waived accommodation fees, those in privately rented accommodation have remained liable for rental payments.

On Tuesday 2nd February, the government announced there would be an additional £50 million made available for student hardship across the UK which is in addition to the £20 million that was made available in December 2020.

The support has been provided in a bit to help support students who may be struggling financially due to job loss/inability to secure employment or having to make rental payments on two accommodation sites.

Whilst University backed halls have the flexibility to void contracts/reduce rents, here at X1 we continue to act in your best interests to secure a tenancy for September 2021 and ensure that your return on investment is maximised.

We are simultaneously ensuring to put tenants welfare at the forefront of operations and are working to alleviate concerns that prospective residents may have when signing a legally binding contract – which makes them liable for rental payments.

At this time, there have been no official announcements that on-campus education will resume however with the above-mentioned Government Roadmap – we remain hopeful that this announcement will be delivered over the coming months.

X1’s Student Accommodation Marketing

All marketing for student September 2021 bookings is continuing and we are continuing to explore additional digital marketing opportunities.

Our team are continuing to register an average of 15 enquiries per week from social platforms (Facebook, Instagram) alone whilst a total number of online student enquiries from the past two weeks has remained at an average of 200 per week.

In addition to this, the X1 Lettings website has received an average of 150 student enquiries per week for the last month and the team is negotiating an average of 70 tenancy applications per week across Liverpool and Manchester.