Student Housing and House Prices

Masomnia

This is first time I've been away from uni for any length of time over holidays and it's really got me thinking about housing in our area.

The street where I live is in a rather salubrious part of Sheffield, and now that we're at Easter it's completely dead. During term time the road is full of parked cars, now it's looking pretty bare as all the students have gone home.

I know I'm part of the problem, so it's a bit hypocritical, but it makes me kind of sad that these once thriving areas of professional locals are now 'student enclaves'. The centre of the area is basically a ghost town. It's a great house we have too, lovely, solid Victorian mid-terrace, worth somewhere in the mid-£200ks (I looked it up), a perfect family home you might say. It's probably the nicest place I've ever lived in (for an urban area anyway), and if I could live here after uni I would no question, as I'm sure many would. Thing is though, I could never afford property here, yet for students it's very affordable as the rents are obviously depressed.

I'm really starting to see why people complain about 'bloody students', not because of noise or disturbances, because it isn't too bad like that, but because it takes the character out of the area. The houses get bought up by BTL landlords who in most cases don't care about the area and a lot of whom don't live anywhere near.

What I have noticed recently is the university building lots of new halls of residence. Is this a trend everywhere? I wonder how much of it is the council putting pressure on the university. Our street alone is depriving the council of thousands in council tax.

I really don't know how I feel about this, or what this post is actually about... I've loved living here, and think that living in a house been an essential part of my student experience. But I don't think it's any bad thing that the uni are building lots of new accommodation (supposedly there will be enough to house three years worth of students).

Heck, maybe it'll cause house prices in the area to fall.

CLAPTON

students bring a great deal or prosperity to some citys ... Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Cmbridge and I'm sure many others all have a very significant income generated by students.

The downside is indeed that it is one of the causes of the housing problem... very rarely discusssed issue.

Whilst not sure about the exact numbers but there are about 2 million students in the UK; probably over half live away from home and so essentially have two homes.
Many of course live in halls of residence but clearly this land could be used for family homes if un-occupied by students
and all because students want that uni 'experience' of being away from home.

tara747

I sincerely support universities providing more purpose built student accommodation... it will help to bring house prices down, enable students to live closer to campus in dearer cities (where students are often forced to live far away from the university itself... a terrible shame), reduce the influence/power/income/number of landlords and (as Masomnia says) free up family houses.

Win win all round!!! Except for the Rachman type LLs, and who would weep for them? :rotfl:

CLAPTON, I would venture that land occupied by halls of residence should not be 'used for family homes'... the high density of halls should be welcomed and providing more of them would free up family homes, which would be a better solution imho.

lostinrates

My halls of residence, back in late nineties early 00s were very expensive. Very, very expensive. Much more expensive than housesharing was.

I very strongly felt living in halls was part of the experience, in fact I think living in shared accommodation with anyone other than family is the best practise available for marriage, but in cramped conditions with shared facilities even more so.

Where I studies students seriously pushed prices up. A lot of students from wealthier families were buying homes, homes considered what the aggro bulls would shout are not ftb homes, and the area changed out of much recognition within the few years I was there. As clapton says though, some of the student influx also kept money flooding in. It was a very interesting rapid change to observe.

CLAPTON

tara747 wrote: »

I sincerely support universities providing more purpose built student accommodation... it will help to bring house prices down, enable students to live closer to campus in dearer cities (where students are often forced to live far away from the university itself... a terrible shame), reduce the influence/power/income/number of landlords and (as Masomnia says) free up family houses.

Win win all round!!! Except for the Rachman type LLs, and who would weep for them? :rotfl:

CLAPTON, I would venture that land occupied by halls of residence should not be 'used for family homes'... the high density of halls should be welcomed and providing more of them would free up family homes, which would be a better solution imho.

I find it difficult to see how people having two homes whether in high density flats or not frees up family homes.

It is indeed arguable that living away from home is part of the Uni experience but it comes at a significiant cost to people who only want one home to live in.

I'm not condemning the practice of going away to Uni but student accommodation is a significant factor contibuting to the shortage of housing which is rarely acknowledged.

Its why many local authorities object to the increase in Uni accommodation because it reduces the amount of land available for social housing.

tara747

CLAPTON wrote: »

I find it difficult to see how people having two homes whether in high density flats or not frees up family homes.

It is indeed arguable that living away from home is part of the Uni experience but it comes at a significiant cost to people who only want one home to live in.

I'm not condemning the practice of going away to Uni but student accommodation is a significant factor contibuting to the shortage of housing which is rarely acknowledged.

Its why many local authorities object to the increase in Uni accommodation because it reduces the amount of land available for social housing.

I'm confused. Are you saying that you think students should live at home while at university?

For starters, this is not possible for a lot of students - me for one. Not everyone lives in a university town/city, let alone the one that they want to go to.

Secondly, I think that moving out of the family home for the first time is a priceless lesson in independence, and it is also a great opportunity to meet a huge range of people. Anyone I knew at university who lived at home didn't seem to benefit from the full 'experience' of being a student - unless your folks live VERY centrally you are going to have to commute!

Thirdly, I fail to see how universities providing adequate student accommodation *on their own land* reduces the supply of housing for everyone else. If anything it does the opposite. And most universities have oodles of land available to them, they won't be in competition for local authority land.

lostinrates, I too lived in halls the whole way through university (apart from my year abroad) and loved it!!!! It was great fun, and I met some great people (and also some not so great, same as in every other walk of life). You made some excellent points about communal living too.

CLAPTON

tara747 wrote: »

I'm confused. Are you saying that you think students should live at home while at university?

For starters, this is not possible for a lot of students - me for one. Not everyone lives in a university town/city, let alone the one that they want to go to.

Secondly, I think that moving out of the family home for the first time is a priceless lesson in independence, and it is also a great opportunity to meet a huge range of people. Anyone I knew at university who lived at home didn't seem to benefit from the full 'experience' of being a student - unless your folks live VERY centrally you are going to have to commute!

Thirdly, I fail to see how universities providing adequate student accommodation *on their own land* reduces the supply of housing for everyone else. If anything it does the opposite. And most universities have oodles of land available to them, they won't be in competition for local authority land.

lostinrates, I too lived in halls the whole way through university (apart from my year abroad) and loved it!!!! It was great fun, and I met some great people (and also some not so great, same as in every other walk of life). You made some excellent points about communal living too.

UK has a housing shortage; this shows itself in the high price of housing relative to incomes and the long waiting lists for social housing.

I'm sure it's true that some students can't reasonably commute to Uni but the majority of people live within reach of a university town so if education is the primary goal rather than having a life experience then living at home is a viable alternative.

I'm sure its true that Uni students like the 'living away ' experience but its also true that people with young families would enjoy decent housing.
No all countries share the UK model of Uni education.

I'm not sure what you mean 'on their own land' .. the majority of Uni land has been directly funded by the taxpayer and not by some benevolent donor.

The current practice of people going away to Uni was probably appropriate when only 5% of people went to Uni but now that nearly 50% do it not quite so viable.
If it is really true that the majority of Unis have oodles of suitable land then that's an absolute disgrace.

What I'm saying is that the 'right' of students to have a good time at Uni should be balanced by the alternative uses for the every expensive Uni resources and funding.

And I'm saying that its an area of debate rarely exercised but that makes it no less valid.

silvercar

I'm sure it's true that some students can't reasonably commute to Uni but the majority of people live within reach of a university town so if education is the primary goal rather than having a life experience then living at home is a viable alternative.

It is probably true that the majority of students live within reach of a university town, but it may not be that their local university is the right university for them, in terms of degree choices offered or that they may not meet the entrance requirements for the course they wish to study at their home university.

CLAPTON

silvercar wrote: »

It is probably true that the majority of students live within reach of a university town, but it may not be that their local university is the right university for them, in terms of degree choices offered or that they may not meet the entrance requirements for the course they wish to study at their home university.

I was walking in North London and noticed quite a few blocks of student accommodation.
In this area a typical one bed ex LA flat would probably go for over 200,000 which is outside the means of many young working people even with the higher London salaries.

Which got me thinking about the numbers of students generally and the amount of accommodation they occupy which is clearly very significant.
Although these boards often mention BTL etc I've not seen anyone mention the rise in student numbers as being a significant issue as a cause of housing and the high price.

Whilst its undoubtedly true that many people would need to leave home to benefit from a specific course, my overall view (including my own children) is that most leave the home area for the 'Uni experience' rather than acedemic need.
One therefore questions the UK model of Uni education and its funding and to what extent the benefit of having a good time away from home can be justified by the downsides.

silvercar

How do you stop students choosing a uni outside their hometown? Only by reducing loans, which will get the accusation that only the rich can afford to move out of home.

CLAPTON

silvercar wrote: »

How do you stop students choosing a uni outside their hometown? Only by reducing loans, which will get the accusation that only the rich can afford to move out of home.

The rich are always better off than the poor that's true.
But one should at least question why tax payers money is basically being used so a certain proportion of the young population can have a 'uni experience' rather than an education and at very significant indirect cost in the housing field.

A further thought if fairness is an issue; why shouldn't ALL 18 years olds be offered a SLC type loan whether they go to Uni or not; so e.g. non students could travel the world for three years or so which I'm sure is very enriching experience too.