The supply of new student accommodation is slowing down just as an increased number of students wait for college offers this year, according to property group Cushman & Wakefield.
Just 600 bed spaces will be built this year, the estate agents say. That’s less than half the 1,350 built last year and just over a quarter of the rooms made available in 2018 and 2019.
And they say the situation is unlikely to improve over the next three-five years “with just 850 units to be built over the next two years being the best-case scenario”, according to its chief economist, Kate English.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris announced an additional 1,056 college places for the coming academic year back in June. But there are major concerns about the ability of students to find accommodation close to their college. Universities in Dublin have been contacting alumni and local residents seeking additional accommodation options.
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“Student numbers have increased significantly over the past decade with over 78,000 applications submitted to the CAO in February of this year,” Ms English said, “just as we are seeing a decline in the amount of accommodation being built. Add to this the ongoing pressures on the housing market, the situation is going to be very difficult for students seeking accommodation in the short term.”
The total stock of purpose-built student accommodation in Dublin as of June this year was 18,700 bed spaces, Cushman & Wakefield says. That is expected to rise just 3 per cent this year, 1 per cent next year and 4 per cent in 2024. This compares with increases of 14-20 per cent between 2017 and 2019, the estate agents said.
“To put these figures into context,” Ms English said, “4,300 student bed spaces across 14 schemes were under construction in the second quarter of 2019. This compares with just 1,450 beds under construction in the second quarter of this year, with 600 of these to be finished in 2022 and a further 850 in 2023-2024.”
While there are about 10,000 bed spaces in the pipeline, just 6,700 units have planning permission granted, “with many questions surrounding how many of these will reach construction stage”, Ms English said.
She noted that all the dedicated student accommodation under construction were being developed by the private market, with 40 per cent of the bed stock in Dublin being owned by universities.
