Dec 6, 2018
Student rents jump as accommodation goes upmarket
The increase has been driven by the standard of accommodation shifting steadily upmarket, research by student housing charity Unipol and the National Union of Students found. The Accommodation Costs Survey 2018 found that in 2011 the average rental bill took up 58% of the maximum student loan, now it is 73%. It showed that the top end of the market, studio flats made up 4% of student accommodation in 2012, but now they account for 9%. Fewer people are now living in traditional student digs with shared bathrooms and kitchens. Self-catered en-suite accommodation now accounts for the lion's share of student accommodation in both these sectors, at 58% of total rooms, a rise of 2% since 2012. Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed, assistant chief executive of Unipol Student Homes, said that while it was positive that student housing standards had improved, it was important that students on middle and lower incomes were not priced out. NUS vice president of welfare Eva Crossan Jory, said: "The increasing cost of accommodation has created a real affordability problem for students. Rent continues to rise above measures of inflation, but also in proportion to the already inadequate student loan package."
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