Property enquiries from overseas students soar 400% in May

Jonathan Griffiths

Residential agent, Manchester Apartments, has seen a 400% increase in enquiries for the month of May from international students.

It says this huge number of enquiries is an indication that the international student accommodation market is on the road to recovery, despite travel restrictions.

Pre-pandemic, the Chinese student community brought £500m a year to the Greater Manchester economy. Manchester Apartments is now reporting more than 3,000 residential requests, of which 50% are international enquiries.

Jonathan Griffiths, Manchester Apartments director, said: “Clearly it’s not unexpected to have an increase in enquiries and tenancy agreements as we come out of the pandemic, but this is significantly higher than projected figures.

“It’s brilliant news for Manchester, this is a true indication that we should see an influx of Chinese students specifically in the autumn term.”

Manchester’s university sector plays a huge role in the success of the local economy and, with one in eight of the city’s student population being Chinese, the impact of not having this community has hit the economy hard during the pandemic.

Griffiths added: “We cannot underestimate the importance that all international students play in the success of the city – and this is a clear indication that interest is extremely high for the coming academic year.

“Manchester Apartments has long recognised trends from the volume of our enquiries and contracts, now we’re optimistic that a full recovery is in the near future. Interestingly there is an increase is enquiries from the Middle East, too. We hope Manchester welcomes all international students back in its uniquely warm and enthusiastic way.”

Manchester Apartments has a stock of more than 1,000 high specification apartments within the city for the student and young professional markets. Over the pandemic the company managed to retain a 97% occupancy level, with certain projects, like Westpoint in Trafford, completely full.

It said that, with more than 1,000 apartments under construction in Manchester alone, these sales enquiries demonstrate the under-supply of high quality and well managed affordable homes for young tenants in the region.

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