Current Student Accommodation Shortfall Within Southampton

Southampton has a population of 260,111 and this is expected to increase by 35,200 by 2040. 18.6% of the cities population is aged between 16-24, this is a significant proportion more than the national average of 10.5% and the largest age group in Southampton.

In 2018 the two universities 14 halls of residences, with a total of 8,464 bed spaces.  This figure represents just 25.7% of the full-time student population that were offered student accommodation. Currently there were only 23 private sector purpose-built schemes providing 5,119 bed spaces. This represents an additional 15.5% of the full-time student population. The total amount of bed spaces of halls of residences and private sector schemes sums to 13,583. This figure only represents 41.2% of the total student population of Southampton.

This clearly shows an overall shortfall of accommodation for students within Southampton as out of all of the full time higher education population within Southampton, 58% of students were unable to access private sector or university accommodation in 2018.

Despite the pandemic, record numbers of students were accepted across the UK in 2021, as well as record breaking numbers of international enrolment according to UCAS / Knight Frank 2021. The under supply of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) as well as larger influxes of students, underpins the entire national student accommodation market. PBSA have risen to the spotlight as nationally this type of accommodation has dealt better with challenges brought by the pandemic than the wider rental market. 69% of students living in PBSA said in the UCAS / Knight Frank 2021accommodation survey that they felt positive about the accommodation providers response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 40% of participants said that they would continue to live in the PBSA accommodation for a second year. More students are opting for PBSA accommodation as ties between better quality accommodation with better overall student outcome, satisfaction and student mental health.