Student Rents Continue to Rise in 2011


* Latest accommodationforstudents.com research shows increase of 3% on last year

*London reaches all-time high weekly rent of £108, up 5% on 2010

*Exeter now second-most expensive city in UK

*Several cities experience double-digit increases: Leamington Spa, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Sunderland, Manchester and Bangor

An all-time high of nearly 600,000 new students*, 5% up on last year, will await their A Level results on Thursday in the hope that they have secured a place at university.

Many of those, plus thousands of others already studying, will be looking for rented accommodation for the coming year. The latest research from accommodationforstudents.com, (afs), the UK’s No 1 student accommodation website, reveals the latest picture across the UK in terms of the average weekly rent these students can expect to pay, based on nearly 86,000 properties in 78 cities across the UK. (see full rent table below).

The average weekly student rent is currently £67.11, up 3% on last year. London leads the way with a whopping £108.03 average weekly rent, up 5% on last year.

There have been some significant moves in the rent league table over the past year, with several cities showing 10%+ increases on last year. Leamington Spa (Warwick University) has seen its average student weekly rent rise 16%, from £60.24 to £70.47. Newcastle-under-Lyme (Keele University) and Sunderland have seen 13% increases, to current weekly rents of £64.65 and £61.05 respectively.

Even the largest campuses have seen significant rises. Manchester, the UK’s largest student population, has experienced a 12% increase from last year, from £58.58 to £67.04. Other movers are Bangor, up 11%, and Stoke-on-Trent, Cheltenham and Exeter up 9%, the latter now being the second most expensive place after London to rent accommodation in the UK, at £94.61.

Other cities that have seen an increase more than double the national average of 3% include Edinburgh, 8%, Bournemouth, Coventry and Bolton, all 7%, and Cardiff, York, Reading, Crewe and Stafford, 6%.

Even bottom of the table, Middlesbrough, with an average weekly rent of £43.68, has seen a 5% increase from last year, £41.47.

Simon Thompson, co-founder and director of Accommodation for Students, said:

“The rent increases for some cities reflect two key factors. One is the changing nature of accommodation coming on the market. The trend is for hi-spec, better quality student accommodation, and some locations are leading the way in this area.

The other key factor is the popularity/desirability of attending some universities that puts pressure on the accommodation available and hence, the charging of higher rents. Universities like Exeter, Warwick (Leamington Spa), Edinburgh and, more recently, Manchester, would come into this category, as have, in the past, Newcastle, Bristol and Durham. ”

Thompson added:

“Either way, students who are going through the current Clearing process are unlikely to be able to find university accommodation for their first year and so it is really helpful to know precisely how much they will have to pay for private rented accommodation.

With such financial pressure being put on student with fees, the cost of accommodation is a real factor in university choice.”

*UCAS

APPENDIX

UK Student Rent Analysis, July 2011 (78 cities/85,801 properties)

City - Average Rent £ Per Week - Index*

  1. London - 108.03 - 161
  2. Exeter - 94.61 - 141
  3. Uxbridge - 91.54 - 136
  4. Guildford - 91.23 - 136
  5. Cambridge - 90.86 - 135
  6. Brighton - 85.82 - 128
  7. St Andrews - 84.05 - 125
  8. Egham - 80.97 - 121
  9. Oxford - 80.12 - 119
  10. Plymouth - 79.11 - 118
  11. Edinburgh - 78.64 - 117
  12. Portsmouth - 77.77 - 116
  13. Canterbury - 77.40 - 115
  14. Gloucester - 77.28 - 115
  15. Farnham - 76.23 - 114
  16. Worcester - 76.03 - 113
  17. Bournemouth - 75.75 - 113
  18. Bristol - 74.23 - 111
  19. Chester - 73.47 - 109
  20. Reading - 73.33 - 109
  21. Eastbourne - 73.07 - 109
  22. Hatfield - 72.45 - 108
  23. Ipswich - 72.22 - 108
  24. Winchester - 71.80 - 107
  25. Kent - 71.55 - 107
  26. Bath - 70.89 - 106
  27. Aberdeen - 70.79 - 105
  28. Glasgow - 70.73 - 105
  29. Northampton - 70.51 - 105
  30. Leamington Spa - 70.47 - 105
  31. Chichester - 70.15 - 105
  32. Leeds - 68.71 - 102
  33. Hastings - 67.90 - 101
  34. Colchester - 67.12 - 100
  35. Manchester - 67.04 - 100
  36. Nottingham - 67.02 - 100
  37. York - 66.96 - 100
  38. Durham - 66.75 - 99
  39. Cheltenham - 65.90 - 98
  40. Bangor - 65.87 - 98
  41. Loughborough - 65.86 - 98
  42. Bedford - 65.81 - 98
  43. Stafford - 65.28 - 97
  44. Southampton - 65.12 - 97
  45. Newcastle upon Tyne - 65.12 - 97
  46. Newcastle-under-Lyme - 64.65 - 96
  47. Warwick - 64.32 - 96
  48. Luton - 64.17 - 96
  49. Sheffield - 63.04 - 94
  50. Stirling - 62.90 - 94
  51. Aberystwyth - 62.01 - 92
  52. Leicester - 61.86 - 92
  53. Huddersfield - 61.78 - 92
  54. Cardiff - 61.07 - 91
  55. Sunderland - 61.05 - 91
  56. Newport - 60.93 - 91
  57. Norwich - 60.30 - 90
  58. Swansea - 60.17 - 90
  59. Birmingham - 59.37 - 88
  60. Lincoln - 58.59 - 87
  61. Coventry - 58.50 - 87
  62. Carlisle - 57.65 - 86
  63. Lancaster - 57.46 - 86
  64. Bradford - 57.10 - 85
  65. Liverpool - 56.94 - 85
  66. Dundee - 56.79 - 85
  67. Preston - 56.43 - 84
  68. Salford - 55.35 - 82
  69. Derby - 55.15 - 82
  70. Bolton - 55.08 - 82
  71. Wolverhampton - 51.33 - 76
  72. Belfast - 51.10 - 76
  73. Crewe - 49.18 - 73
  74. Hull - 47.72 - 71
  75. Stoke-on-Trent - 46.69 - 70
  76. Pontypridd - 45.74 - 68
  77. Stockton - 45.23 - 67
  78. Middlesbrough - 43.68 - 65

* Index compared to UK average student weekly rent of £67.11.

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