BRIGHTON, ENGLAND—Capitalizing on the growing demand for purpose-built student housing properties in the South of England, international real estate investment firm Property Frontiers has launched the Regency in Brighton. The project offers 39 large, luxury studio apartments that are fully furnished and with high-end finishes.
With three years of experience in the student housing market, Property Frontiers builds assets to sell to individual investors or lease out to students. So far this year, the company has sold more than 100 student rooms.
Brighton is the latest area of focus for the company. Property Frontiers’ CEO, Ray Withers, notes, that with the city’s close proximity by train to Central London and relatively short distance to Gatwick international airport, “Brighton is a stable and high-value property market.”
Savills has identified the coastal city as a “new opportunity market,” and it’s been recently ranked the third-best student investment location by Knight Frank. The two closest colleges are the University of Brighton, with 14,620 students and five campus locations, and the University of Sussex, home to 9,840 full-time students. Overall, one out of 10 students are from overseas, but according to a Jones Lang LaSalle report from last year, Brighton has just 5,576 bed spaces for over 34,000 students, of which 24,460 are full time. More than three-quarters of the city’s students are left on their own to find housing.
What’s good news for those in student housing is that the local council authorities are supportive of the effort to create more student housing. The Brighton & Hove City Plan: Student Housing Policy Options Paper states that local officials want “to take a positive and proactive approach to new student accommodation to ensure that they are located in the most suitable places in terms of accessibility and impacts on the amenity of surrounding areas."
Property Frontiers has partnered with CRM Students, an experienced developer and manager of student housing, on the Regency, slated for completion next summer. The project is located in very close proximity to two large university campuses, shops and amenities and a brief walk to the beach and Brighton Pier. Sales prices range from
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