Unite boss warns of ‘very limited’ student housing supply from 2028 as viability stalls

Unite boss warns of ‘very limited’ <a href="https://jiuniversity.com/new-dhs-student-visa-regulations-halted-future-uncertain/” title=”New DHS student visa regulations halted, future uncertain”>student housing supply from 2028 as viability stalls

The head of the UK’s biggest student accommodation provider has warned that there could be “very limited” student housing supply from 2028 as development

Starts on between five and 10 new schemes were made in 2026, compared with around 40 to 50 the previous year (picture: Alamy)

Joe Lister, chief executive of Unite, claimed it was no longer profitable to develop purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) “in all but a handful of markets”

He made the comments while speaking at the Next Steps for Student Housing in the UK online policy conference on Monday 12 October, hosted by the Westminster Higher Education Forum

Mr Lister said delivery of new student housing was “significantly constrained by build-cost inflation, higher debt costs, planning delays and building safety processes”

He said that, before COVID, 25,000-35,000 new beds were being delivered each year in the UK. In each of the past five years, this figure was around 15,000

He said: “We will be having very limited new supply beyond 2028.”

Mr Lister added that there should be clearer national recognition for PBSA in the government’s National Planning Policy Framework, as well as bespoke guidance for the tenure from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as seen in the build-to-rent sector

There should also be better local evidence that there was a “real differential” across local markets, he said. That would require universities, local authorities and providers to come together and collect data to understand where there was a need for student housing, he added

Last week, Unite Group announced it had been forced to cut rents for the new academic year, which began last month. The landlord reported a 0.3% reduction in annual rents for 2026-27, the first time this century Unite has experienced such a decline besides the pandemic in 2020

Asked by Inside Housing Living how rent cuts would impact Unite’s development pipeline, Mr Lister said: “The reality is that rents aren’t growing as fast as build costs and construction costs are growing, and that means it’s no longer

“To put that in context, rents would need to be £12,000 to £13,000 per annum for us to build a new bed

“I think in Plymouth that’s probably close to £5,000 to £6,000 per annum if you go for one of the more affordable rooms

“Our average rents across the UK are £8,000 per annum. It just shows that gap of, there is going to be very limited new supply without concerted efforts, without people coming together [and] without people thinking very differently

“Whereas PBSA has helped housing in cities historically, I think we’re facing a real challenge, and I think that provides even more of a need for people to cooperate [and] work together to address some of those challenges.”

Unite was founded in 1991 and currently provides homes to 72,000 students across 207 properties in 29 university towns and cities

Last month, Unite put four PBSA schemes in Leicester up for sale. The schemes are part of the Empiric Student Property portfolio Unite acquired in January this year. 

Unite Students and Manchester Metropolitan University received approval last month to begin construction of a 2,302-bed PBSA scheme

Unite posted a £417m pre-tax loss for the first six months of 2026, compared with a profit of £186m in the same period in 2025

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Source: living.insidehousing.co.uk