It’s been a year of transition from the Covid impacted lows, to the post-pandemic recovery and honeymoon period, tempered by a changing world economy and forecast headwinds for 2023. Despite this, Australian student accommodation is well placed to deliver out performance in the near term, with a strong outlook for investment demand into the sector.
After two difficult years with significant operational challenges presented by the pandemic, the Australian student accommodation market has flourished in 2022. There has been a strong rebound in occupancy levels across the main capital cities, and significant recovery in rental levels which are heading towards record pricing in Semester One 2023.
From a transaction perspective, the operational challenges that had restricted deal flow have dissipated, but macro uncertainties in the form of increasing construction costs, inflation and rising debt costs are inhibiting investment into new pipeline projects and sales volumes.