By Andrew Batt:
With
a growing number of property buyers from Southeast Asia investing in student accommodation
overseas, it’s important to get inside the mind of students and
understand what drives their decision on where to live whilst studying.
A
leading UK student accommodation website –
www.accommodationforstudents.com – has surveyed 1,500 students through
the country to discover how they find suitable accommodation, what
factors determine their choice, how satisfied they are with their
accommodation and their relationship with their landlord and letting
agent.
The study revealed that students use a mix of resources to
find accommodation. Offline, the University accommodation office and
letting agents are key resources. Online, Google is the most used tool
(and the most used resource overall) with 52 percent of respondents
using it to search for accommodation and 39 percent using
www.accommodationforstudents.com.
Of most interest to landlords
is that students who live in private, shared housing are more likely to
use online resources to find a property than the University
accommodation office, highlighting the need for landlords to have a
strong online presence to appeal to the 90 percent of students who have a
smartphone.
When looking at where to live, the most important
factor to a 58 percent majority of students was proximity to University,
and yet price is the most influential factor when it comes to making
that final property choice.
A total of 61.8 percent of students
who responded to the survey considered this to be the case, and those in
private accommodation were generally more satisfied that they were
getting value for money than those in private or university halls of
residence. Some 70 percent of students feel that bills inclusive rents
are important as this helps them keep track of their finances.
The
next most influential factor was the standard of upkeep of a property.
Students do not seem to prioritise things like space, the standard of
decor, or even the landlord when selecting a property, yet 88 percent
considered a fast internet connection the most important property
feature.
Others included the availability of good storage space,
large and functional communal spaces for socialising and for those in
private rented accommodation, the availability of double beds.
The
majority of students (66 percent) live in properties which were managed
by landlords and letting agents, and almost 60 percent of these had a
positive relationship with them. However, students reported a wide range
of issues with landlords – the most frequently cited related to
communication issues; either a perceived lack of response on maintenance
issues (40 percent) or a general lack of communication (32.5 percent). A
huge 94 percent feel that accredited properties are a good thing.
A
significant minority of students claim not to have experienced any
problems at all (36 percent), and 51 percent of students felt their
deposit had been unfairly withheld.
Simon Thompson, founder of the
website, said: “Understanding students and their motivations has always
been central to the way we operate. Our findings did not seek to
generalise students, as many have very individual experiences, but
instead were designed to help us and our beneficiaries to better
understand the changing requirements of the modern student.
“Not
only did the results reveal some surprising findings on topics such as
finance, accommodation, university and course choice, accommodation and
future aspirations, but some important information for landlords to take
into consideration when approaching this market."
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@allproperty.com.sg
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