Rents in the London housing market could rise by as much as 16% in the next four years, underpinned by soaring numbers of students applying to study in the capital.
JLL said in a new report that the 2021-22 academic year saw the highest number of applications to study in London in 15 years – 464,000 – while the number of international applications in the capital is now 10% higher than pre-pandemic.
Applications from international students have increased by a third over the past five years, driven by a sharp rise in non-EU students.
The agency’s analysis of its own tenants identified the City, Nine Elms and Canary Wharf as hotspots for overseas students, adding that international tenants were willing to pay 20% more than the average rent paid by domestic tenants. Some 70% of the agency’s tenants in the City are overseas students, 60% in Nine Elms and 45% in Canary Wharf.
International tenants on average paid £2,737 per calendar month to rent a property in central, west or east London over the past year. Average rental growth in popular areas among international students has ranged from 11.3% to 27.1% over recent years.
Meg Eglington, senior research analyst at JLL, says: “The UK, and particularly London, have benefited from the large increase of international students in recent years. The number of students applying from EU countries has fallen, mainly because EU students starting from the 2021/22 academic year now require a visa and are subject to international fees.
“But there has been a large increase in the number of students from China, India, Nigeria and the USA over the past three years, more than making up for the fall in EU students.”
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