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A drop in the number of international students coming to the UK has hit the student housing provider Unite Group, which lowered its profit outlook for the third time in four months as weaker demand prompted it to cut rents in some cities.<\/p>\n
Shares in the FTSE 250-listed company \u2013 which says it is the UK\u2019s biggest student housing provider \u2013 fell almost 10% to the lowest level since early 2015. It said it would build far less student housing, after the completion of Hawthorne House in Stratford with 719 beds, expected in June.<\/p>\n
Only 68% of Unite\u2019s beds are reserved for the next academic year from September, prompting it to focus on owning and managing student accommodation in cities with \u201chigh tariff universities\u201d \u2013 those requiring the best A-level grades from students and the most Ucas points for entry.<\/p>\n Unite is stepping up disposals and cost-cutting measures, as it announced the \u00a3186m sale of St Pancras Way, a 571-bed property in London, to the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund, its joint venture with Singapore\u2019s sovereign wealth fund GIC.<\/p>\n Karan Khanna, the Unite chief operating officer, said the \u201cmost challenging\u201d cities were Nottingham, Leicester and Sheffield, where the group had reduced rents and tenancy lengths from 51 weeks to 44 weeks, with similar changes in other places, such as Bristol and at Burnet Court in Edinburgh, where student rooms start from \u00a3250 a week. It often offers shorter tenancy agreements, with the same weekly cost but lower overall cost.<\/p>\n Expressing confidence in the enduring appeal of UK higher education globally, Joe Lister, the Unite chief executive, added: \u201cWe should be focusing on those high tariff universities; we have seen changes in the marketplace coming from the move to more students staying at home and the fall in international postgraduates, and repositioning the portfolio will take some time.\u201d<\/p>\n