LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Student accommodation owner, manager and developer, the Unite Group, announced a like-for-like valuation increase for the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF) of 0.6% for the quarter ended 30 September on Tuesday, to £2.45bn.
The FTSE 250 company said the USAF portfolio comprised 25,177 beds in 68 properties, across 21 university towns and cities in the UK.

Its London Student Accommodation Joint Venture (LSAV), on the other hand, saw valuation growth of 1.9% for the quarter on a like-for-like basis, to £1.3bn.

LSAV's investment portfolio comprised 8,354 beds across 12 properties in London, and Aston Student Village in Birmingham.

The company said the valuation increases were primarily driven by rental growth, with LSAV also benefiting from a one-time reversionary uplift at one of its larger properties.

Overall the USAF portfolio was valued at an average yield of 5.2%, while the LSAV portfolio was valued at an average yield of 4.5%.

Unite Group said that as it entered the final stages of the lettings cycle for the 2019-2020 academic year, Unite Students had achieved a "strong" lettings performance across its whole portfolio, with 98% of bed spaces let, in line with the same time last year.

That, the board said, supported annual rental growth of between 3.0% and 3.5%, through a combination of value-driven price increases and improved utilisation.

"We have delivered another strong reservations performance for 2019-20 across our whole portfolio, demonstrating the continued demand for our rooms and services," said Unite Students' chief financial officer Joe Lister.

"The performance is driven by our focus on long-term partnerships with high-quality universities and our investment in university towns and cities where demand for purpose-built student accommodation is strong."

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